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Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial begins with a former ally who reported him to the FBI

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is underway with live television coverage, a former aide who reported him to the FBI on the witness stand and his wife watching from her desk in the state Senate but prohibited from participating.But how much Paxton himself will take part in the historic trial that resumes Wednesday is up in the air. Facing the gravest threat yet to his political future, Paxton left the start of the proceedings early and cannot be compelled to testify over accusations of corruption that have dogged one of Texas’ most powerful figures for years.The trial could last weeks and is beginning with testimony from Paxton’s former second-in-command, the first in a potentially long line of onetime allies who could help Republican impeachment managers build their case that Paxton should be permanently removed from office. Paxton pleaded not guilty Tuesday but did not return for opening arguments, when his attorneys sharply criticiz...

Trump critic and supporter in tight race in Utah special GOP congressional primary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

The race had tightened Tuesday between a Donald Trump critic and supporter in a Utah special congressional primary race that could offer a glimpse into how Republican voters feel about a string of indictments against the former president as he seeks another term.The special election primary to replace longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart saw Celeste Maloy, who was Stewart’s chief legal counsel and has his endorsement, with a narrow lead over former state lawmaker Becky Edwards late Tuesday.Edwards, a Trump critic, won two urban counties but Maloy, a Trump supporter, overtook her with strength from rural areas. Votes yet to be counted included thousands of mail-in ballots over the next two weeks.After seeing her early lead evaporate, Edwards briefly thanked supporters and ended an election night party in Salt Lake City. As they chanted, “Becky, Becky,” Edwards said she felt optimistic but would have to wait for more vote counting.Businessperson Bruce Hough, a committeeman for ...

Kentucky Democrat Beshear links GOP challenger to reality of abortion law in reelection campaign

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has pushed his opposition to Kentucky’s abortion ban to the forefront of his reelection campaign by linking his Republican challenger to an extreme scenario of the strict law — requiring young victims of rape or incest to carry their pregnancies to term.Beshear’s campaign released a TV ad featuring a prosecutor denouncing the law’s lack of exceptions for rape or incest. It attacks GOP nominee Daniel Cameron for supporting the measure, which bans all abortions except when carried out to save a pregnant patient’s life or to prevent a disabling injury.The ad represents a reversal of roles in this socially conservative state — where Republicans have traditionally gone on offense in statewide races touting their opposition to abortion. Now, Beshear has become the aggressor against his anti-abortion GOP challenger — signaling a willingness among Democrats to press the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a...

India’s prime minister uses the G20 summit to advertise his global reach and court voters at home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Major roads in New Delhi are teeming with giant posters and billboards announcing India’s presidency of this week’s summit of the Group of 20 nations. And one leader’s picture — smiling benignly from every traffic circle — stands out from the rest: Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Modi is also on the front page of major newspapers, and Indian TV channels are flashing his picture, accompanied by the Hindi word “Vishwaguru” — a leader of the world. In public speeches, his ministers are touting him as a steward of a surging India.It is an unabashed homage to the populist prime minister and staunch Hindu nationalist, who is celebrated by his supporters and by his party as someone who is leading a developing nation of more than 1.4 billion people to a bright new future.But this advertising blitz also displays the personal ambitions of Modi, who in the past has used the optics of New Delhi’s growing geopolitical clout and foreign policy triumphs to consolidate power. Experts ...

Lawyers claim cable TV and phone companies also responsible in Maui fires

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — After a visit to a warehouse where Hawaiian Electric Company is housing power poles and electrical equipment that may be key to the investigation of last month’s devastating fires on Maui, lawyers for Lahaina residents and business owners told a court Tuesday that cable TV and telephone companies share responsibility for the disaster because they allegedly overloaded and destabilized some of the poles. The lawyers said the cables were attached in a way that put too much tension on the poles, causing them to lean and break in the winds on Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures. LippSmith LLP has filed a proposed class action against Hawaii’s electric utility and Maui County in state court in Hawaii. Attorney Graham LippSmith is now asking the court to add multiple telecommunications companies and public and private landowners to the original suit.“In a disaster of this magnitude, it t...

Sri Lanka government to investigate allegation of intelligence complicity in 2019 Easter bombings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s government will appoint a parliamentary committee to investigate allegations made in a British television report that Sri Lankan intelligence had complicity in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people. Labor Minister Manusha Nanayakkara told Parliament on Tuesday that details on the investigation will be announced soon. A man interviewed in the Channel 4 videos released Tuesday said he arranged a meeting between a local Islamic State-inspired group and a top state intelligence official to hatch a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka and enable Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year.Azad Maulana was a spokesman for a breakaway group of the Tamil Tiger rebels that later became a pro-state militia and helped the government defeat the rebels and win Sri Lanka’s long civil war in 2009. Rajapaksa was a top defense official during the war, and his older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had been defeated in ...

Legal fights over voting districts could play role in control of Congress for 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

Democrats got a potential boost for the 2024 congressional elections as courts in Alabama and Florida ruled recently that Republican-led legislatures had unfairly diluted the voting power of Black residents. But those cases are just two of about a dozen that could carry big consequences as Republicans campaign to hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Another trial alleging racial violations in voting districts got underway Tuesday in Georgia, where Democrats also hope to make gains, while voting rights advocates in Ohio decided to drop a legal challenge to that state’s congressional districts — providing a bit of good news for Republicans. Legal challenges to congressional districts also are ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. And new districts seem likely in New York and North Carolina, based on previous court actions.Though much remains to be settled, there’s a good chance congre...

Schools are cutting advisers and tutors as COVID aid money dries up. Students are still struggling

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Davion Williams wants to go to college. A counselor at his Detroit charter school last year helped him visualize that goal, but he knows he’ll need more help to navigate the application process.So he was discouraged to learn the high school where he just began his sophomore year had laid off its college transition adviser – a staff member who provided extra help coordinating financial aid applications, transcript requests, campus visits and more.The advisers had been hired at 19 schools with federal pandemic relief money. In June, when Detroit’s budget was finalized, their jobs were among nearly 300 that were eliminated.“Not being able to do it at this school is kind of disappointing,” Williams said in August at a back-to-school event at Mumford High School.An unprecedented infusion of aid money the U.S. government provided to schools during the pandemic has begun to dwindle. Like Williams’ school, some districts already are winding down programming like expande...

EPA delays new ozone pollution standards until after 2024 election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone — better known as smog — despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health.The decision by EPA Administrator Michael Regan means that one of the agency’s most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election.“I have decided that the best path forward is to initiate a new statutory review of the ozone (standard) and the underlying air quality criteria,” Regan wrote in a letter to the EPA advisory panel last month. The letter cites “several issues” raised by the panel in a recent report that “warrant additional evaluation and review.”The review, which will last at least two years, will “ensure that air quality standards reflect the latest science in order to best protect people from pollution,” Regan said.Regan’...

Big Weather Changes Loom! Warm Wednesday Followed By Temp Crash; Major Hurricane Developing in Atlantic; Historic Flooding in Greece

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:33 GMT

A general feel of autumn in the air ahead! Gusty winds will blow in Chicago Wednesday. Humidities and dew point are to remain elevated going into Wednesday morning, but will begin to drop off Wednesday afternoon and evening. Still, daytime heating may generate enough instability to pop a few spotty showers later in the afternoon and early Wed evening—one or two of which which may produce lightning.  But areal coverage on those will be quite limited.It's Wednesday night and forward through the coming weekend and into next week which temps will cool. There's to be the general feel of autumn in the air. Daytime highs will hold to the upper 60s to low 70s Thursday through Saturday—and the coming weekend is likely to average 12.5° cooler than last.  THAT'S QUITE A CHANGE! Northeast winds are likely to travel down Lake Michigan into Chicago and this is likely to produce 60s on area beaches Friday into Sunday.WHILE THERE MAY WELL BE CLOUDS Thursday into Friday amid some gusty north/northe...