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Biden creates national monuments, marine sanctuary in West

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is establishing national monuments in Nevada and Texas and creating a marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. Biden called the conservation measures part of an effort to “protect the heart and soul of our national pride.”Speaking at a White House summit on conservation action, Biden said the new national monuments are among the “natural treasures” that “define our identity as a nation. They’re a birthright we have to pass down to generation after generation.”“Our national wonders are literally the envy of the world,” Biden said in a speech at the Interior Department. “They’ve always been and always will be central to our heritage as a people and essential to our identity as a nation.”Biden designated Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in southern Nevada that Native Americans consider sacred, as a national monument, along with the new Castner Range National Mon...

New Brunswick’s $12.2-billion budget targets challenges that come with growth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick government tabled a $12.2-billion budget Tuesday that forecasts a small surplus and promises a funding boost to help stabilize the ailing health-care sector.Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said the province is operating in a volatile economic environment where rapidly rising prices are putting pressure on household budgets and increasing costs for businesses.While the province is riding high on a wave of population growth, it comes with challenges of providing housing, health care and education for newcomers. Steeves said new spending in the budget targets those sectors.“Our government is proud of how we’ve been responsible with taxpayers’ money, while finding that important balance with spending on priorities including health care, education, and absolutely supporting our most vulnerable,” he told a news conference before tabling the budget in the legislature.The 2023-24 budget provides for a $40.3-million surplus on total reve...

Ukrainian soldiers near finish of Patriot missile training

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

FORT SILL, Okla. (AP) — Several large, 12-wheeled military vehicles carrying mobile missile launchers rumbled across the southwest Oklahoma prairie on Tuesday as part of a training exercise at the Fort Sill Army Post.Spilling out of the sand-colored vehicles and quickly setting up the launchers were some of the 65 Ukrainian soldiers who have been training at the installation since January on how to use the defensive missile system to track and shoot down enemy aircraft. U.S. military officials invited journalists from across the country and Europe, including The Associated Press, to watch the soldiers train.The Patriot missile system, which hasn’t yet been deployed in Ukraine, is particularly useful for defending population centers and critical infrastructure, said Brig. Gen. Shane Morgan, Fort Sill’s commanding general.The soldiers are expected to leave Oklahoma in the next several days for additional training in Germany before they deploy to Ukraine with a Patriot miss...

Willis Reed, leader on Knicks’ 2 title teams, dies at 80

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, died Tuesday. He was 80.Reed’s death was announced by the National Basketball Retired Players Association, which confirmed it through his family. The cause was not released, but Reed had been in poor health recently and was unable to travel to New York when the Knicks honored the 50th anniversary of their 1973 NBA championship team during their game against New Orleans on Feb. 25.Nicknamed “The Captain,” Reed was the undersized center and emotional leader on the Knicks’ two NBA championship teams, with a soft shooting touch from the outside and a toughness to tussle with the era’s superstar big men on the inside.His accomplishments — seven All-Star selections, two NBA Finals MVP awards among them — would have warranted Hall of Fam...

‘Heartbreaking but always inspiring’: Lisa LaFlamme’s docu-series looks at women’s rights in Africa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

In partnership with Journalists for Human Rights, veteran Canadian journalist Lisa LaFlamme is out with a new docu-series that examines gender-based violence and discrimination against women in Africa.The award-winning broadcaster, and Rachel Pulfer, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights, appeared on Breakfast Television on Tuesday to talk about the four mini-documentaries highlighting the fight for women’s rights in Kenya and Tunisia, particularly in media, politics, and in their personal lives.The series was launched on the Canadian organization’s YouTube channel on March 17.One of the episodes delves into a morning show in Kenya and the challenges the women faced being in the newsroom.“How has journalism changed lives? How does it promote democracy, promote human rights, and protect human rights? This was an opportunity to see from the ground up what the relationship between journalism and civil society is,” LaFlamme explained.She also said it...

Tanzanian officials confirm 5 dead from Marburg disease

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tanzania’s health ministry on Tuesday confirmed that five people have died and three others are being treated for the Ebola-like Marburg disease.Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said the cases were identified in the western region of Kagera and the government had managed to control its spread to other regions.Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in bats and spreads between people via close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, or surfaces, like contaminated bed sheets. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of people.Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the World Health Organization.Kenya and Uganda are on high alert due to the recent cases in Tanzania.WHO representative Zabulon Yoti, who spoke during the Tanzania health ministry press briefing, praised the government for what he called its swift response and transparency.The acting ...

Lawyer: 29-year-old who posed as teen student was lonely

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — A 29-year-old woman accused of using false documents to enroll as a New Jersey high school student and attend some classes over a four-day period did so because she was lonely and longed to return to her days with friends in school, her lawyer said. The woman pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of providing a false government document. Her lawyer said she knows she made a mistake and has applied to enter a pretrial intervention program that eventually could lead to the charge being dismissed. She’s due back in court in May.The woman is a South Korean citizen who came to the United States by herself when she was 16 to attend a private boarding school, the lawyer said. She later graduated from Rutgers University in 2019.The lawyer said his client had no nefarious intentions when she enrolled at New Brunswick High School in January. She was just seeking to return to “a place of safety and welcoming and an environment that she looks back on fondly,R...

Kevin Fox, wrongly charged in daughter's 2004 death, dies in crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

The Wilmington, Illinois man wrongly charged with the murder of his 3-year-old daughter two decades ago has died in a crash in Arkansas. Kevin Fox’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner confirmed his death in a tweet writing: “I just learned that one of our best, most courageous and kindest clients, Kevin Fox was killed in a car crash yesterday,” Zellner wrote.  “Our sympathy goes out to his family and everyone who loved him. RIP. #TruthWins #LoveWins”In 2004, Fox, was a married father of two when his daughter Riley disappeared from the family’s Wilmington home. Her body was later discovered in a nearby creek.Fox was later arrested and under intense interrogation by Will County sheriff’s investigators gave a videotaped confession he later recanted.  He spent eight months in jail before he was exonerated by DNA.In 2010, Scott Wayne Eby - a sex offender already in prison – confessed to raping and drowning Riley.  The Fox family sued Will County authorities and were awarded $...

Over 30 local Herbalife victims to finally receive checks over 2016 ruling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

CHICAGO — Over 30 people who were supposed to receive money from a 2016 settlement involving Herbalife are finally receiving their checks Tuesday evening.Last month, the group of 31 Illinoisans protested outside of the Thompson Center with the goal of getting the attention of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.Back in 2016, his predecessor Lisa Madigan led a case against Herbalife — saying the $3 million settlement that was reached resolved complaints about false and misleading marketing schemes.In the meantime, none of the 31 victims have received any of the $3 million.According to the group's leader, Pastor Julie Contreras of United Giving Hope, they will receive the money on Tuesday night. Illinois AG urges Hyundai, Kia to take ‘comprehensive action’ over car thefts Checks will range from $140 to $140,000 and she credited WGN with helping to speed the process up.

Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer calls Utah ski collision story ‘BS’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:24 GMT

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer called the story of a retired optometrist who is suing her over a 2016 ski collision “utter B.S.” on Tuesday during the trial's opening day in Utah, where the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer appeared in court, and tried to shield herself from photographers' view with a notebook.Paltrow and Terry Sanderson, the man suing her, sat across from each other in a Park City courtroom as their attorneys gave opening arguments detailing the crash. Both described their clients as victims and blamed the other for the 2016 crash at Deer Valley, one of the country's most upscale ski resorts.The two showed little emotion as attorneys questioned their credibility. A somber-looking Paltrow — wearing a beige knit sweater, tweed harem pants and aviator-style reading glasses — wrote in a blue “GP”-initialed notebook throughout the first day of the trial, which is set to last eight days.Sanderson claims that Paltrow was cruising down the slopes so reckle...