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Joe Carollo appears at first commissioner meeting, asked to resign by voter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

On Thursday, Joe Carollo appeared at the first Miami City Commissioner meeting since a jury in Fort Lauderdale found him responsible for harassing businesses in Little Havana as an act of political retaliation. As a result, he was ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages totaling $63.5 million to the owners of Ball & Chain.The City of Miami said taxpayers will not pay the bill because the commissioner is responsible. “It’s a process. We have to respect the process. We are not liable, not a single penny from the $63 million in the City of Miami is liable,” said Commissioner Manolo Reyes. During public comments, a voter called for Carollo’s resignation.“And also, I do want to say I think Commissioner Joe Carollo should resign. I think you’re a criminal and shame on you,” said voter Thomas Kennedy.7News was unable to talk to Carollo before the meeting. Carollo said he plans to appeal the jury’s decision.

Adam Montgomery, accused of killing 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, convicted of unrelated gun charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man charged with murder in connection with the disappearance of his 5-year-old daughter was convicted of unrelated gun charges Thursday.A jury found Adam Montgomery guilty of six charges: two counts each of being an armed career criminal, receiving stolen property, and theft. The Hillsborough County jury in Superior Court got the case Wednesday afternoon after a trial that lasted several days.Montgomery was accused of having a shotgun and a rifle, even though he has multiple felony convictions in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He pleaded not guilty. His lawyers said that the prosecution’s case relied on lies from other witnesses and that police reached the wrong conclusion.A sentencing date has not been set.Regarding his daughter, Harmony Montgomery, Montgomery pleaded not guilty in October to second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence and abuse of a corpse charges. Authorities allege that he killed Harmony by repeatedly s...

Wanted: An AI job that (mostly) doesn’t exist yet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

At one time, no one had ever heard of a telegraph operator. An electrician. Auto mechanic. TV producer. X-ray technician. Software developer. Webmaster. Cybersecurity specialist.Advancements in technology have always spawned new kinds of jobs while rendering other ones obsolete. Artificial intelligence will be no exception. Right now, we don’t fully know what those jobs will be. But that hasn’t stopped job seekers from trying to find out.Prognosticators say artificial intelligence will likely have a similar impact on the labor market — and workers want to get in on the ground floor. But it’s clear that even employers don’t know what those jobs are. Not yet, at least.To be clear, automation and, to a certain extent, AI have been part of the labor market for quite some time. Who among us hasn’t had an infuriating exchange with a chatbot? But interest in employment related to AI has skyrocketed in the past two years. Searches for AI-related jobs on the employment listings w...

Biden unveils LGBTQ+ proposals, but postpones White House Pride Month event due to poor air quality

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden unveiled new initiatives Thursday to protect LGBTQ+ communities but hastily postponed a big Pride Month celebration on the White House lawn with thousands of guests from around the country because of poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires. The event, which will now be held on Saturday, was intended to be a high-profile show of support at a time when members of the LGBTQ+ community feel under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them. The Biden administration announced initiatives designed to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attack, help young people with mental health issues and homelessness, and counter book bans, though the effects may be limited. Biden was to discuss them at the event, which the White House had said would be the largest Pride Month celebration ever held there. Thousands of guests had been invi...

Biden and Sunak hold White House talks on daunting challenges to Ukraine, world economy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN-KIM (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched wide-ranging talks at the White House on Thursday by vowing that they would work in lockstep as the globe tries to adapt to a period of rapid economic, political and technological change.The leaders’ Oval Office talks were expected to cover the war in Ukraine, China, economic security, international cooperation on regulating the growing field of artificial intelligence, and more. Biden and Sunak have already had four face-to-face meetings since Sunak became prime minister in October, but the talks in Washington will offer the two leaders a chance for their most sustained interaction to date.“We will put our values front and center,” Biden said.Sunak reflected on the significant conversations that their respective predecessors have had over the years in the Oval Office and acknowledged that both he and Biden were facing the...

Senate release $586 million tax relief plan that avoids changes to tax cap law

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

Senate Democrats rolled out a $586 million tax relief proposal Thursday that boosts several housing-related initiatives but steers clear of significant changes to Massachusetts’ tax-cap law and short term capital gains tax.Tax relief has been one of the few major talking points on Beacon Hill this legislative session after efforts to push a bill forward fizzled out last year when the state was required to send billions back to taxpayers under the state’s tax cap law known as Chapter 62F.Senators plan to debate their proposal on June 15. Amendments are due Monday by 5 p.m.Senators proposed increasing the cap on rental deductions from $3,000 to $4,000 and initially boosting the statewide Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) cap from $10 million to $57 million before settling on $30 million annually.HDIP provides a real estate tax exemption and tax credits for building new housing or rehabilitating old properties in gateway cities. It was one feature of Healey’s $750 million ta...

Adam Montgomery, accused of killing daughter, 5, convicted on unrelated gun charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A New Hampshire man charged with murder in connection with the disappearance of his 5-year-old daughter was convicted of unrelated gun charges Thursday.A jury found Adam Montgomery guilty of six charges: two counts each of being an armed career criminal, receiving stolen property, and theft. The Hillsborough County jury in Superior Court got the case Wednesday afternoon after a trial that lasted several days.Montgomery was accused of having a shotgun and a rifle, even though he has multiple felony convictions in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He pleaded not guilty. His lawyers said that the prosecution’s case relied on lies from other witnesses and that police reached the wrong conclusion.A sentencing date has not been set.Regarding his daughter, Harmony Montgomery, Montgomery pleaded not guilty in October to second-degree murder, falsifying physical evidence and abuse of a corpse charges. Authorities allege that he killed Harmony by repeatedly striking he...

E-bikes found in East Village shed fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department responded to a structure fire on 16th Street in East Village on Thursday morning. At 4:45 a.m., firefighters say they found a multi-level building with smoke rising. SDFD says the blaze started in a shed adjacent to the building. All occupants of the building exited on their own, according to SDFD. The incident prompted authorities to detour traffic in the area. The State Route 94 ramp near F Street was shut down by California Highway Patrol while crews were fighting the fire.All lanes have since been reopened.SDFD says the blaze was knocked down at about 5 a.m. and there were no injuries reported in connection to this incident.  A fire chief confirmed to FOX 5 that the probable cause of the fire is batteries from e-bikes and scooters, however, the matter is still under investigation.

Poor air quality from Canadian wildfires affects people as far as away as North Carolina

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it’s a thick, hazardous haze that’s disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.That means at least another day of a dystopian-style detour that’s chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.The weather system that’s driving the great Canadian-American smokeout — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — “will probably be hanging around at le...

LBJ’s daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:29 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Luci Baines Johnson was a somewhat impatient 18-year-old on Aug. 6, 1965, when she happened to be on what she called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.”The occasion that day was President Lyndon Johnson’s scheduled signing of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress had passed the day before. She assumed the ceremony would be in the East Room of the White House, where the Civil Rights Act had been signed the previous year.“And that would probably take an hour and then I could be on my way,” she recalled in a recent interview from the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Instead, her father met her and guided her to the South Portico, where the presidential motorcade was waiting. They were going to Congress.Knowing a trip to Capitol Hill would take more time than she anticipated, she asked why.“‘We are going to Congress because there are going to be some courageous men and women who may not be returning to Congress b...