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As vacancies grow, Senate Democrats work to circumvent Tuberville’s blockade on military nominees

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are trying a new workaround to confirm hundreds of military officers blocked by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, ten months after the Alabama Republican first said he would object to the nominations over a Pentagon abortion policy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday that the Senate will consider a resolution in the near future that would allow the quick confirmation of the more than 300 officers up for promotion. The Senate is currently at a stalemate on the nominations because Tuberville is objecting to the routine process of confirming the nominations all at once by unanimous consent, and voting on them individually could monopolize weeks or months of the Senate’s time. Schumer separately moved to hold votes as soon as this week on three top Pentagon officers affected by the holds — Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be the chief of naval operations, Gen. David Allvin to be chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and Lt. Gen. Christo...

Mexico to give interest subsidies, but no loans, to Acapulco hotels destroyed by Hurricane Otis

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government said Wednesday it will assume half of the interest rates on bank loans to help rebuild the 377 hotels destroyed or heavily damaged after Hurricane Otis slammed into the resort city last week.But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will not provide government loans to the hotels, the backbone of the local economy.The hotels currently have no cash flow — and face months of work to repair windows and walls blown out by the Category 5 hurricane — so it is unclear how many private banks would be willing to lend them money.López Obrador announced a package of $3.4 billion in aid for the resort. Much of that will be spent on payments of between $2,000 and $3,000 per damaged home, on temporary job programs and free electricity for residents for several months.He also said his government would build dozens of barracks to station National Guard troops in Acapulco, despite the fact Guard officers were already present in the port, but were unable to p...

State is paying fired Tennessee vaccine chief $150K in lawsuit settlement

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The state of Tennessee has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a federal lawsuit by its former vaccine leader over her firing during the COVID-19 pandemic.The agreement in the case brought by Michelle Fiscus includes provisions that limit what each of the parties can say about each other, according to a copy provided by the Tennessee Department of Health in response to a public records request.The current and former health commissioners, and the state’s chief medical officer agreed that they will not “disparage” Fiscus. Fiscus, meanwhile, must reply “no comment” if she is asked about the lawsuit, negotiations and the settlement. Additionally, Fiscus or anyone on her behalf can’t “disparage” the defendants, the Tennessee Department of Health, the governor or his administration, or other former or current state officials and workers about her firing.Both the Department of Health and Fiscus declined to comment on the settlement.Fiscus was fired in the s...

Henry Winkler rises above dyslexia to write children’s books and a memoir: ‘There is always a way’

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

If Henry Winkler is not a morning person, it’s impossible to tell. He’s logged onto Zoom for an interview about his new memoir but occasionally is interrupted by a phone call — which he answers with a cheery “Good Morning.” His granddaughter walks through his home office, as do his dogs. He introduces them. At one point, Winkler stops to point out roses on his desk that he picked from his garden. The beloved TV icon says this is a good example of his morning routine. He wakes up early and takes care of the dogs. He checks Twitter. “That’s the only social media I do. I like Twitter, but it’s getting tough,” Winkler said of the platform now called X. He also likes to play a game on his phone called Zuma. And he occasionally meditates in the middle of the day.“I listen to sounds of rain. A rainstorm in Cologne. A rainstorm in Scotland. I sit in an armchair and meditate. Two frogs next to a lake in Switzerland. It could really be a rainstorm in West Covina, California....

Delta says pilot accused of threatening to shoot the captain no longer works for the airline

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

Delta Air Lines says the pilot accused of threatening to shoot the plane’s captain during a flight no longer works for the airline, and federal officials say his authority to carry a gun on board was revoked.Jonathan J. Dunn was indicted Oct. 18 and charged with interfering with a flight crew over an incident that occurred during a flight in August 2022. The Transportation Department’s inspector general says Dunn, who was the first officer or co-pilot, threatened to shoot the captain after a disagreement over diverting the flight to take care of a passenger with a medical issue.“Out of respect for the ongoing aviation authority investigation of this incident, Delta will refrain from commenting on this matter but will confirm that this First Officer is no longer employed at Delta,” the airline said in a statement Wednesday.The brief indictment in federal district court in Utah said that Dunn “did use a dangerous weapon in assaulting and intimidating the crew member....

Pennsylvania court permanently blocks effort to make power plants pay for greenhouse gas emissions

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania cannot enforce a regulation to make power plant owners pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, a state court ruled Wednesday, dealing another setback to the centerpiece of former Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to fight global warming.The Commonwealth Court last year temporarily blocked Pennsylvania from becoming the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt a carbon-pricing program, and the new ruling makes that decision permanent.The ruling is a victory for Republican lawmakers and coal-related interests that argued that the carbon-pricing plan amounted to a tax, and therefore would have required legislative approval. They also argued that Wolf, a Democrat, had sought to get around legislative opposition by unconstitutionally imposing the requirement through a regulation.The court agreed in a 4-1 decision.It would be up to Wolf’s successor, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, to decide whether to appeal the decision to the state...

The mayors of five big cities seek a meeting with Biden about how to better manage arriving migrants

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York are pressing to meet with President Joe Biden about getting federal help in managing the surge of migrants they say are arriving in their cities with little to no coordination, support or resources from his administration.The Democratic leaders say in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday that while they appreciate Biden’s efforts so far, much more needs to be done to ease the burden on their cities.Migrants are sleeping in police station foyers in Chicago. In New York, a cruise ship terminal was turned into a shelter. In Denver, the number of migrants arriving has increased tenfold and available space to shelter them has withered. With fewer available work authorizations, these migrants cannot find work that would allow them to get into proper housing. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who is leading the coalition, said nearly every conversation he has had with arriving migrants is t...

It’s time to buy health insurance through the marketplace. Experts suggest doing your research first

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

It’s time to pick health coverage for next year on the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces, and experts caution against focusing your choice on price alone.In order to prevent thousands of dollars in financial surprises, buyers should know what a plan covers, how it works and what costs you may have to pay upfront for care. An annual enrollment window starts Wednesday and runs into December for Americans looking to buy individual coverage that begins Jan. 1. You’re eligible if you don’t have coverage through work, Medicare or Medicaid. The marketplaces saw record enrollment of more than 16 million for this year. Officials expect business to be brisk again for 2024 plans partially because people have been losing Medicaid coverage that they kept through the COVID-19 pandemic.Here are some things to consider when assessing marketplace plans. Tax creditsThe marketplaces offer plans with a range of premiums, which is the cost of coverage. They are grouped into platin...

Sidewalk plaques commemorating Romans deported by Nazis are vandalized in Italian capital

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian politicians and Jewish leaders have condemned the vandalizing this week of four tiny memorial plaques embedded in sidewalks in front of apartment buildings where Roman Jews were living when they were deported from the Nazi-occupied city in 1944 and sent to their deaths in Auschwitz. A woman passing by Tuesday on one sidewalk in the Trastevere neighborhood known for its nightlife noticed the blackening of two side-by-side plaques. The markers name the residents and cite the date the two were hustled away during the German occupation of Rome in the last years of World War II. Two other plaques were also vandalized in apparent acts of antisemitism on a nearby block outside the building where two other deportees lived. “I hope that unfortunately what is happening in other European countries, particularly in Paris, isn’t being repeated by us,’’ said Victor Fadlun, who is president of the Jewish Community of Rome. He was referring to the discovery of anti-Jewish graffi...

Teachers kick off strike in Portland, Oregon, over class sizes, pay and resources

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:50:00 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Teachers in Portland, Oregon, walked off the job on Wednesday for the first day of a strike that will shutter schools for some 45,000 students in Oregon’s largest city.Concerns over large class sizes, salaries that haven’t kept up with inflation and a lack of resources prompted the strike, one of the latest signs of a growing organized labor movement in the U.S. that’s seen thousands of workers in various sectors take to the picket lines this year.The Portland Association of Teachers, which represents more than 4,000 educators, said it was the first-ever teacher’s strike in the school district. The union has been bargaining with the district for months for a new contract after its previous one expired in June. Portland Public Schools did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.Schools are closed and there is no classroom or online instruction during the strike.Mike Bauer, a union representative and speci...