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Montana House cancels session after rally for trans lawmaker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

By AMY BETH HANSON and SAM METZ (Associated Press)HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s House speaker canceled a Tuesday floor session a day after seven protesters were arrested for disrupting proceedings with demands that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat silenced by lawmakers for comments against a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care, be allowed to speak.The cancellation is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.”“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that ...

5 things we heard from the Chicago Bears, including trade scenarios for the NFL draft and reaction to the Aaron Rodgers deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles gave assistant GM Ian Cunningham the stage Tuesday at Halas Hall for the annual pre-draft news conference.After the Bears held the Brian Piccolo Award ceremony, Cunningham met with reporters to preview what’s ahead this week as they prepare to make 10 draft picks, starting with No. 9 in Thursday’s first round.In addition to Cunningham’s thoughts on Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, here are five things we heard.1. The Bears’ additions to the offensive line this weekend will be telling.It won’t be only the players they choose but where they are chosen. It has been established for months that a sturdier front should be a priority as the Bears enter a pivotal evaluation season for quarterback Justin Fields.Poles signed guard Nate Davis in free agency to help stabilize the interior of the line, and there’s a presumption in many league circles that the Bears will add one of the top offensive tackles in the ...

Santander Bank to close 19 branches in Massachusetts, online banking a factor in the decision

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

As more people shift to handling their finances online, an increasing number of banks are doing away with their brick-and-mortar branches, including one that just announced it’s shuttering 19 branches in the state.Boston-based Santander Bank company alerted the Treasury Department last week about its plans to close 19 branches across Massachusetts in the coming months.“Like many industries, our customers’ preferences have changed, with more customers choosing to bank with us online,” the company said in a statement. “Therefore, we are reimagining the customer and employee experience by simplifying our processes, refining our branch footprint, and increasing our investment in digital capabilities to align with the evolving needs of our customers.”Boston will be seeing the most number of Santander branches close, with seven shutting their doors. The closures will take place in late July and early August. Affected locations include 585 Columbia Road in Dorchester; 67 Beacon St. o...

American voters don’t want Biden or Trump, polling shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

President Biden’s announcement he would seek re-election to the nation’s highest office comes just as polling shows voters wish both leading candidates would sit out 2024 altogether.According to an NBC News survey of 1,000 adults conducted just days before Biden’s unsurprising second term bid began in earnest, “70% of all Americans — including 51% of Democrats — believe he should not run for a second term.”Biden, 80, is the oldest person to ever run for president or seek re-election to that office. His predecessor and presumptive Republican counterpart, 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, would himself clinch that title were he running against any other candidate.The president’s advanced age, those surveyed told NBC News, is among the chief reasons they do not want him to run for a second four-year term, with more than half of respondents labeling Biden’s eight lived decades a “major” concern when considering their 2024 pick for the presidency.This may sound like good n...

North Dakota’s latest try at abortion ban could face lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

North Dakota has become the latest state to ban abortion in most cases — again.Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday signed a ban that has narrow exceptions: Abortion is legal in pregnancies caused by rape or incest, but only in the first six weeks of pregnancy. Abortion is allowed later in pregnancy only in specific medical emergencies.The law is intended to replace a previous ban that is not being enforced while a state court weighs its constitutionality.Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and a nationwide right to abortion, actions by lawmakers and in courts — and the interplay between them — continue to create confusion.Here is a look at what is known and not known about where abortion policy stands in North Dakota and where it falls in the national landscape.___WHAT LAWS ARE IN PLAY IN NORTH DAKOTA?The state adopted a “trigger law” in 2007 to ban abortion in the event that Roe was overturned.But soon after last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision did...

Minnesota Legislature considering 2 gun control proposals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota House was considering a “red flag law” on Tuesday to allow the temporary confiscation of guns from people judged to be an immediate threat to themselves or others, as well as a proposal for expanded background checks for firearms transfers.The two gun measures are part of a wide-ranging public safety bill that lawmakers were expected to debate late into the night before ultimately passing it.‘Every other industrialized nation in the world can find a way to keep their freedoms and not kill their children and their citizens,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said during a rally on the Capitol steps. “We can have both.” First on the House agenda for the day, however, was the completion of work that started Monday night on a contentious bill to legalize recreational marijuana. It passed 71-59. The Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on its own cannabis bill.The public safety bill was last on the day’s agenda. Republicans pre-filed over...

At White House, ‘L Word’ cast praises Biden’s LGBTQ record

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cast members and the creator of the Showtime series “The L Word” praised President Joe Biden on Tuesday for his support of LGBTQ rights. The groundbreaking show followed the lives of lesbian friends in Los Angeles, struggling with romance and careers. Actors Leisha Hailey, Jennifer Beals and Katherine Moennig and executive producer Ilene Chaiken joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay woman to hold the job, at a press briefing in honor of Lesbian Visibility Week.Chaiken said the LGBTQ community is “painfully aware that our struggles are far from over,” citing book bans and attacks on members of the community. The Florida state Board of Education approved a ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades last week, expanding the law that bans such lessons up to grade 3 at the request of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as he gears up for an expected presidential run.“They may try to erase ...

Arizona county’s new elections head shared voter fraud memes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — A rural Arizona county where leaders have embraced voting machine conspiracies on Tuesday hired an elections director who has promoted the false claims that voter fraud cost former President Donald Trump reelection in 2020.The two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted to hire Bob Bartelsmeyer, who shared memes on his personal Facebook page supporting Trump’s claims of fraud and promoting the lie that Dominion voting machines manipulated the outcome. Fox News last week agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to settle a defamation case, after the network repeatedly aired the bogus voting machine claims after the 2020 election.The hiring of Bartelsmeyer is the latest controversial decision by the conservative majority in the southeastern Arizona county of 125,000 people, which voted for Trump over Joe Biden in 2020 by nearly 20 percentage points. The two Republicans on the board, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, trie...

Danny Masterson’s ex says rape came years into relationship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former girlfriend of actor Danny Masterson testified Tuesday that he had grown increasingly abusive and controlling during their five-year relationship when he raped her in their bed in November of 2001. The woman, a model who had begun dating Masterson in 1996, shortly before he gained fame as a star of the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” said there had been previous instances when she woke in the night to find Masterson on top of her, and had accepted sex with him to avoid angering him. On this night, however, she said clearly she did not consent, and resisted.“I told him ‘no, I don’t want to have sex.’ He didn’t listen to me,” said the woman, the first to take the stand in the Los Angeles courtroom at Masterson’s retrial on three counts of rape. She spoke more quickly and grew more emotional as the story continued. “So I continued pleading with him, like, ‘please get off of me, no.’ And he was continuing. And it was painful. And I remember trying to push...

Ed Sheeran testifies in “Let’s Get It On” copyright suit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Sheeran took the witness stand in a New York courtroom Tuesday to deny allegations that his hit song “Thinking Out Loud” ripped off Marvin Gaye’s soul classic “Let’s Get It On.”Sheeran, 32, was called to testify in the civil trial by the heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 soul classic. The family has accused the English star of violating their copyright, claiming his 2014 hit bore “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” to the famed Gaye track.Sheeran, in a dark suit and tie and his trademark ginger locks, was adamant that he had come up with the song himself, sparring at times with the plaintiff’s attorney, Keisha Rice, on the subject of “independent creation.”In response to video played in the courtroom, which showed the musician segueing on stage between the two songs, Sheeran noted it was very common for musicians to weave other artists’ songs into their live shows.Earlier in the day, a lawyer for Towns...