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Ex-GOP Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years for role in $60M bribery scheme; appeal expected

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history.The 64-year-old Republican appeared before U.S. District Judge Timothy Black, who meted out the punishment, about an hour after he and his wife arrived at the federal courthouse.Householder and lobbyist Matt Borges, a former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, were both convicted in April of a single racketeering charge each, after a six-week trial. Borges is set to be sentenced Friday.Householder also received on year of probation and was remanded into the custody of U.S. Marshals.Jurors found that Householder orchestrated and Borges participated in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to secure Householder’s power, elect his allies, pass legislation containing a $1 billion bailout for two aging nuclear power plants owned by a FirstEnergy affiliate and then to use a dirt...

Naomi Campbell welcomes her second child, a boy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

Naomi Campbell has welcomed baby No. 2.“My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence,” she posted Thursday on Instagram. “A True Gift from God – blessed!”The supermodel and host of the reality competition series “The Face” confirmed the baby is a boy. Campbell, 53, did not offer further the details.In May 2021, she introduced her firstborn on Instagram, followed by the cover of British Vogue, saying only that the child, a girl, “wasn’t adopted. … She’s my child.”On Thursday, Campbell’s post was accompanied by a photo showing the new baby from behind as she held him with her daughter’s tiny hand joining theirs.“It’s never too late to become a mother,” Campbell wrote.The Associated Press

Suspected car bomb explodes in cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounds several National Guard officers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An apparent booby trap or car bomb exploded in a cartel-dominated Mexican city, wounding several officers of Mexico’s National Guard, who approached the vehicle to inspect it, authorities confirmed Thursday.The National Guard said the explosion occurred late Wednesday in the city of Celaya, in the north-central state of Guanajuato, where the Jalisco and Santa Rosa de Lima drug cartels have been fighting a bloody turf war for years.The use of a car bomb to intentionally cause law enforcement casualties marks an escalation of the infighting between rival cartels and is reminiscent of a 2010 car bomb blast that killed three people in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez at the height of the 2006-2012 drug war.The officers were reportedly responding to a report about a car parked with what appeared to be bodies inside. As they approached, the vehicle exploded, sending guard officers flying. There was no immediate information on the condition of the wounded, thoug...

Transgender Kansas residents can keep updating their documents despite a new law, governor says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic governor in Kansas declared Thursday that the state will keep allowing transgender residents to alter their driver’s licenses and birth certificates, despite a new law aimed at preventing it. Gov. Laura Kelly issued a directive that allows agencies under her control to defy a legal opinion issued earlier this week by Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach, telling them to follow their lawyers’ narrower view of the law. Kobach has told reporters that if Kelly’s administration did not follow his opinion, he might sue her. The new law is set to take effect Saturday and legally defines a person’s sex as male or female based on their “biological reproductive system” at birth, a standard that would apply to “any” law or state regulation. Kansas driver’s licenses and birth certificates list a person’s sex, and Kobach said they can’t contradict what doctors assigned at birth. He also said the state must undo chang...

Crews will rebuild a critical dam in Puerto Rico that was battered by Hurricane Maria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A key dam in Puerto Rico that was severely damaged nearly six years ago by Hurricane Maria will be rebuilt and improved, officials announced Thursday.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will work with Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority on the multimillion-dollar project that is expected to take a decade.“We are talking about a very complex undertaking,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said.Among the priorities is to install an early warning system, something that was lacking when Hurricane Maria pummeled the U.S. territory as a powerful Category 4 storm in September 2017 and destabilized the dam, forcing authorities to evacuate nearby communities.Crews have since made emergency repairs to the Guajataca Dam in northwest Puerto Rico, but officials said permanent work will start soon.The dam provides water for crops in the region and as well as potable water for more than 300,000 people in the area.The Associated Press

California’s Black reparations task force concludes its historic 2 years of work

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Members of California’s Black reparations task force were set to present their historic two-year report to state lawmakers Thursday, challenging critics to read the hefty tome and reconsider redress for the descendants of slavery. “This book of truth will be a legacy, will be a testament to the full story,” said Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and task force member. “Anyone who says that we are colorblind, that we have solved the problem of anti-Black … racism, I challenge you to read this document.”The first-in-the-nation state slavery reparations panel met one last time Thursday ahead of handing off the 1,200-page report to the lawmakers responsible for turning the findings into legislation. Lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom must agree for any money to be paid or for any policy changes to be adopted.The report details California’s role in perpetuating discrimination against Black residents and suggests more than 100 ways to repair the...

A deadly heat wave is blanketing the South and spreading east

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

An oppressive heat wave blamed for at least 13 deaths in Texas and one in Louisiana blanketed the South on Thursday, as authorities warned of dangerous, triple-digit temperatures. Forecasters said temperatures could rocket up to 20 degrees above average in parts of the region as a heat dome that has taxed the Texas power grid spread eastward. Officials urged people to stay hydrated, shelter in air-conditioned rooms and check on each other as humidity combined with high temperatures to make conditions even more dangerous. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee for Thursday and Friday. The heat index, which indicates how hot it feels outdoors based on the temperature and relative humidity, was expected to reach 115 degrees (46 Celsius) in several cities. The heat dome was expected to be center over the mid-South by the weekend.The heat added to weather-related woes for some Tennessee residents cities wh...

Maryland will begin recreational marijuana sales over the holiday weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland is becoming the latest state to legally sell recreational marijuana, as businesses aim to tap into July Fourth festivities to kick off sales. About 100 stores that already have been licensed to sell cannabis for medicinal purposes will be able to begin selling it recreationally Saturday, more than five years after the state started selling medical marijuana. “This is cannabis’ kind of Independence Day — over Independence Day weekend — and so it’s nice to be able to pull something together that makes it more of a celebratory occasion,” said Brandon Barksdale, co-CEO of Remedy Maryland, which has a superstore in Columbia. The Maryland law creates a “personal use amount” for people 21 and older to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis flower, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis or a total amount of cannabis products that does not exceed 750 mg THC.People also can grow marijuana at home, including up to two plants out of public view. Medical patients wi...

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meets Greta Thunberg and others to address the war’s effect on ecology

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Thursday with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and prominent European figures who are forming a working group to address ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion.The meeting in the Ukrainian capital came as fighting continued around the country. The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said two people were killed in the region’s capital in a Russian strike that hit residences, a medical facility and a school where residents were lined up to receive humanitarian aid. Another person was killed in a morning strike on the village of Bilzoerka, the regional prosecutor’s office said.The presidential office said Thursday morning that at least eight civilians died in Russian attacks during the previous 24 hours.The working group on the environment includes Thunberg, former Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallström, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, an...

NATO members have tentative agreement to extend Secretary-General Stoltenberg’s tenure another year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO members have reached a tentative agreement to ask Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to remain head of the 31-member transatlantic alliance for another year, according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision.The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision still needs to be finalized by alliance members. The much-anticipated decision to formally ask Stoltenberg to extend his tenure for another year is expected to happen relatively soon, the official said.NATO members are scheduled to hold their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12. President Joe Biden conveyed to Stoltenberg during their recent meeting at the White House that it was evident there wasn’t going to be consensus in the near term among NATO allies on picking a new permanent leader, the official said.Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has been NATO’s top civilian official since 2014. His term was du...