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Trump’s Truth Social gets a lifeline after deadline for a big cash infusion is extended

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

Donald’s Trump’s Truth Social got a lifeline this week after a blank-check company that could infuse the social media platform with cash agreed to extend a critical deadline for a year. Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, had a Friday deadline to complete its acquisition of, or merger with, Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology Group. Digital World shareholders, who have agreed to extend the deadline four times already, agreed to do so again this week with about 72% of shareholders voting to push the merger deadline until Sept. 8, 2024, according to the company. A merger would release to Trump Media $290 million held by Digital World and another $1 billion that private investors had committed to the combined company. Trump’s company remains on its own, paying staff, leases and other expenses from $36 million raised from earlier sales of promissory notes. Digital World’s deal with Trump’s company has been troubled fr...

Michigan court hears arguments over murder charge against ex-police officer who shot Black motorist

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Lawyers for a former Michigan police officer are asking the state appeals court to throw out a murder charge in the killing of a Black motorist in 2022.A court hearing is underway Wednesday in the case against Christopher Schurr, who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head after a morning traffic stop in Grand Rapids turned into a short foot chase and vigorous struggle.Schurr’s attorneys argued that lower courts wrongly applied the law to the circumstances of Lyoya’s death.“Common law allows police officers to use deadly force to stop a felon from fleeing when the officer reasonably believed a felony had occurred,” said Matt Borgula, one of Schurr’s attorneys.A judge in Grand Rapids last year found probable cause to send the second-degree murder case to the Kent County trial court. The evidence included video of the final moments when Schurr fired his gun while on top of Lyoya.Schurr, who is white, repeatedly told Lyoya, 26, to take his hand...

Jeff Daniels looks back with stories and music in new Audible audio memoir ‘Alive and Well Enough’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jeff Daniels tackles his life and career in an absorbing, unconventional way this month with a music- and skit-filled audio memoir from Audible that he calls “a little bit like a one-man musical.” In the 12-episode season of “Alive and Well Enough,” the actor, musician and playwright explores his influences and opinions, offering thoughts on everything from fedoras to folk star Arlo Guthrie.“Over the course of these episodic excursions, I’m going to let you peek under my hood. Frankly, I want to know what’s under there, too,” he says in the first episode.We learn that writer Aaron Sorkin gave Daniels a chance at career rebirth with “The Newsroom,” we hear Daniels’ curtain speech on Broadway after his run ended in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and about the time he played golf with Clint Eastwood.The Eastwood story leads to a fantasy sequence in which Daniels dreams up an Oscars telecast punctuated by a stream of all the actors shot on film by Eastwood, and then he sings th...

Stock market today: Wall Street loses ground as weak stretch continues

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Wednesday, continuing a weak stretch in a holiday-shortened week.The S&P 500 fell 0.5%., with slightly more companies losing ground than making gains within the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 77 points, or 0.2%, to 34,562 as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq slipped 0.9%.Big technology stocks fell and weighed on the market. Apple slipped 2.6%. Health care stocks had some of the broadest losses. Johnson & Johnson fell 1.6% and Pfizer shed 1.7%.Several companies made big moves after reporting earnings and other updates. Roku surged 8.6% after giving investors an encouraging financial update and saying it would cut 10% of its staff. AeroVironment jumped 27.5% after the maker of unmanned aircrafts raised its sales forecast for the year.GameStop and Dave & Buster’s will release their latest results after the closing bell.Investors face a relatively quiet week as they come off the Labor Day holiday in ...

US lawmakers visiting The Hague say Russian President Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine. Their comments came a day before they were scheduled to meet with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.The ICC in March issued an international arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. However, it has not yet charged him with any other offenses committed by Russian forces since their invasion of Ukraine more than 18 months ago.The committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, told reporters during a visit to The Hague that Putin “tried to erase a culture, a people and a religion, and that is the definition of genocide.”Another member of the committee, Anne Wagner, a Montana Republican, agreed, speaking of the “crimes against humanity, the downright genocide that this man has per...

Text of the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate decision

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate target on hold at five per cent Wednesday. Here is the text of the central bank’s decision: The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at five per cent, with the Bank Rate at 5.25 per cent and the deposit rate at five per cent. The Bank is also continuing its policy of quantitative tightening.Inflation in advanced economies has continued to come down, but with measures of core inflation still elevated, major central banks remain focused on restoring price stability. Global growth slowed in the second quarter of 2023, largely reflecting a significant deceleration in China. With ongoing weakness in the property sector undermining confidence, growth prospects in China have diminished. In the United States, growth was stronger than expected, led by robust consumer spending. In Europe, strength in the service sector supported growth, offsetting an ongoing contraction in manufacturing. Global bond yields hav...

A Myanmar journalist gets a 20-year sentence for reporting on cyclone’s aftermath, news site says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar sentenced a photojournalist for an underground news agency to 20 years in prison with hard labor for his coverage of a deadly May cyclone’s aftermath, the media organization said Wednesday.The sentence given Sai Zaw Thaike, a photographer for the independent online news service Myanmar Now, appeared to be the most severe for any journalist detained since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said in April that Myanmar is the world’s second- biggest jailer of journalists, behind only China. The country ranks near the bottom of the group’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, placing 176th out of 180 countries.Myanmar Now, which operates underground, reported that a military tribunal tried, convicted and sentenced Sai Zaw Thaike, 40, during the first court hearing since he was detained in the western state of Rakhine.The proceedings took place inside ...

Dozens of chickens, birds die in suburban barn fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. — Dozens of chickens and birds died Saturday in a large fire at a suburban barn.Just after 12:40 a.m., authorities were dispatched to the 9100 block of McConnell Road, located in unincorporated Woodstock, on the report of structure fire.At the scene firefighters observed a heavy fire and smoke showing from a barn on the rear of the property.The fire was considered under control by 1:04 a.m.Courtesy Woodstock Fire/RescueCourtesy Woodstock Fire/RescueCourtesy Woodstock Fire/RescueThe barn, approximately 35 feet by 40 feet in size, housed dozens of chickens and various birds.Nearly all of them perished in the fire, authorities said. Police: Motorcyclist weaving in traffic crashes, dies in suburbs The fire is not believed to be suspicious in nature. A small garage attached to the northern side of the barn was completely destroyed.

Pet food company issues recall on dog food over salmonella concerns

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

A pet food company has issued a voluntary recall over salmonella concerns.Mid America Pet Food is recalling one lot of Victor Super Premium Dog Food. The affected product was only sold in 5-pound bags. The company said the food has potential to be contaminated. The affected product was only sold in 5-pound bags. The affected product consists of 644 cases sold in 5-pound bags with lot code 1000016385 with Best By Date 4/30/2024.  More information on latest recalls here No human or pet illnesses have been reported to date, the FDA said.More information at on the FDA.org's website

'Shower orange' and 'mountweazel' among new terms officially added to Dictionary.com

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:50 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Just when we think we’ve got a handle on the English language, Dictionary.com comes along and legitimizes terms like “shower orange” and “mountweazel.”As part of its continuing (and Sisyphean) efforts to keep up with today’s vernacular, Dictionary.com has officially added 566 new terms to the site, adopting words and phrases made popular thanks to technology, personal identity, climate change and, of course, the kids on social media.The site also adopted hundreds of new definitions for existing words, while revising the definitions of thousands of others.“Not only do we have to strive our best to keep up with language at the inexorable, unceasing pace of change in the form of adding new words, but we also have to update old definitions that are out of date or add new senses of existing words,” John Kelly, the vice president of editorial at Dictionary.com, explains in a statement shared with Nexstar. “On top of that, you can think of an online dictionary as a gigantic, co...