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DeSantis 2024 launch marred by technical glitches

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday declared his presidential bid on Twitter — though the launch did not go off without a hitch.Hours after he filed paperwork declaring his candidacy, DeSantis made his intentions clear by launching an official campaign video on Twitter ahead of a live chat with the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk. “We need the courage to lead and the strength to win,” DeSantis said in his launch video. “I’m Ron DeSantis and I’m running for president to lead our great American comeback.”The filing — and DeSantis’s video announcement — confirmed months, if not years, of speculation that the Florida governor is eyeing the White House. It also amounted to one of the most significant developments in the 2024 Republican presidential contest since November, when former President Donald Trump announced that he would once again seek the party’s nomination.But the Florida governor’s Twitter launch was rife with technical problems, with hundreds of thousand...

4-year-old child is 'OK' after being dropped from high border wall in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 4-year-old child was dropped into the United States from a high border wall with Mexico in a surveillance video that captures a routine — and highly risky — occurrence.“Remarkably, the child is ok!” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tweeted in his caption to the agency's one-minute, 37-second video, which was posted on Twitter on Monday. “Do not trust smugglers!"The jerky, black-and-white images appear to show the child and one adult being aided by another adult over the wall, which rises as high 30 feet (9.1 meters) between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California. Ortiz said agents heard gunfire while tending to the child.The child came with two adults, all of whom were in Border Patrol custody, agency spokesman Michael Scappechio said Tuesday. It had not been confirmed if the adults were the child's parents or what nationality they were. It was also unclear if they would be released in the United States to pursue immigration cases or deported.Attempts to get ove...

Kentucky man accused of shooting roommate who ate last Hot Pocket, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A man in Kentucky’s largest city is facing criminal charges after allegedly shooting his roommate during a dispute over a Hot Pocket, authorities say. Clifton Williams, 64, was arrested on assault charges Sunday after he accused his roommate of eating their last Hot Pocket and attacked him, shooting him in the buttocks, Louisville Metro Police Department officials told WLKY-TV. According to police, Williams started throwing tiles at the man after he realized the last microwaveable turnover was gone. He then shot him in the buttocks as he tried to escape, the TV station reported.Williams is prohibited from contacting the victim, who was taken to UofL Hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. His bond was set at $7,500.The Associated Press

Pastor says Alberta premier lied about nature of phone call before his criminal trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

EDMONTON — The Calgary street pastor at the centre of an investigation that concluded Premier Danielle Smith interfered in Alberta’s justice system says she is lying about the nature of their pivotal phone conversation.Smith has said publicly her conversation with Artur Pawlowski was supposed to be about politics and not his criminal trial relating to a COVID-19 protest at Coutts, Alta., which blocked the United States border-crossing for more than two weeks.However, Pawlowski told reporters Wednesday the discussion was never supposed to be about anything but his trial and about whether Smith would follow through on her public promise to pardon those charged with offences related to violating health restrictions.Audio of the 11-minute call, which prompted an investigation by Alberta’s ethics commissioner, focuses on charges Pawlowski was facing and his subsequent trial. There was no discussion of him in his role as then-leader of the fringe Alberta Independence Party.Smith is heard ...

Police: Teenager dies during media stunt on Los Angeles bridge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 17-year-old boy fell to his death this weekend while climbing a Los Angeles bridge in an apparent social media stunt, police said.Police were sent to the 6th Street Viaduct around 2 a.m. Saturday and found the boy, who was pronounced dead at a hospital. His name wasn’t immediately released.The teen slipped and fell “when climbing upon one of the arches, in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast,” Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission.The bridge opened last July. The $588-million span, which replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco span, runs 3,500 feet (1,066.80 meters) over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River and connects downtown to the historic Eastside. The bridge, which has thousands of LED lights and views of LA’s skyline, is the largest and most expensive span ever built in the city. It was designed to become a city landmark.But police closed the bridge several times after it quickly...

Registration opens for annual Florida Python Challenge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Registration opened Wednesday for the 2023 Florida Python Challenge, giving participants a chance to win a share of more than $30,000 in prizes while removing invasive Burmese pythons from the wild.The 10-day competition runs Aug. 4–13 and is open to both professional and novice snake hunters. A grand prize of $10,000 goes to the participant who removes the most pythons, plus smaller prizes for additional categories.“There is nowhere in the world like America’s Everglades, and we need to continue to protect and restore this national treasure,” South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member “Alligator Ron” Bergeron said in a statement. “Removing invasive pythons from across the Greater Everglades Ecosystem is absolutely critical, and we must do everything we can to combat this invasive species.”Participants in last year’s competition removed 231 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades, an increase from the 2021 number and more than double...

As Oregon Senate GOP boycott hits ‘crucial point,’ governor begins talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has begun meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders in the statehouse to try to end a three-week-old boycott by GOP senators. Her office said Wednesday this year’s troubled legislative session has reached “a crucial point.”No progress was announced, however, with only one month remaining in the session that began Jan. 17. Because of the walkout, over 100 bills that have emerged from committees remain in limbo. Both the Senate and House must also approve state budgets for the next two years before the session closes by a June 25 deadline. Republican Senate Minority Leader Sen. Tim Knopp said on Tuesday the boycotters are not returning until the session’s last day, when they intend to pass “bipartisan” budgets and bills.The walkout, which began on May 3 ostensibly because bill summaries weren’t written at an eighth grade level as required by a long-forgotten law, has focused on a sweeping measure on abortion rights and gender-...

Teen charged in shooting death of schoolmate outside Pittsburgh school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A 15-year-old student was charged with homicide in the fatal shooting of his 15-year-old schoolmate just outside a school in Pittsburgh shortly before classes were due to start Wednesday morning, police said. Officers found Derrick Harris just before 7:30 a.m. with gunshot wounds by the front steps of Oliver Citywide Academy, police said. A gunshot detection system indicated 11 rounds had been fired. Major Crimes Commander Richard Ford said Harris was critically injured and rushed to a hospital, where he died.The other 15-year-old student, who was seen by an officer running from the school with a gun, was arrested and a weapon recovered, Ford said. The student was identified as Jaymier Perry in a court docket and Jamier Perry in a police statement. He was charged with criminal homicide, possession of a firearm by a minor and carrying a firearm without a license. Perry was taken to the county jail, according to police. Court records didn’t list a defense attorney.Ol...

Once a whaling port, New Bedford wants to light the world again, with wind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — New Bedford was once the city that lit the world, exporting vast quantities of whale oil for lamps in the early 1800s. Workers packed the docks, unloading casks of oil that had been extracted at sea from whale carcasses and brought in by a fleet of hundreds of whaling ships. Nearly two centuries later New Bedford aspires to light the world again, in a different relationship with the sea, as the offshore wind industry arrives here. On Wednesday, the vessel UHL Felicity bringing wind turbine tower sections from Portugal reached the Port of New Bedford. Once assembled out on the water this summer by developer Vineyard Wind, the turbines will stand more than 850 feet high. “There’s this sort of poetic coming-about for New Bedford as a center of energy,” Mayor Jon Mitchell said.It’s also a milestone for the industry. The United States does not yet have a single commercial-scale offshore wind farm. But it will soon. THE BUILDOUTVineyard Wind is building a 62-turb...

$3.1M settlement reached in fatal police shooting of Black man in Tacoma, Washington

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:18 GMT

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Officials in the city of Tacoma, Washington, will pay $3.1 million to the family of a Black man who was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in 2019. The City Council announced Tuesday’s settlement with the relatives of 24-year-old Bennie Branch in a news release. “This family’s loss has been felt deeply across our entire community – specifically amongst Tacoma’s African American community,” the statement said, adding that the settlement was “not an admission of legal liability,” but rather a way for both sides to avoid an expensive trial. Branch was in a car with other people on Sept. 8, 2019, when a patrol officer spotted the vehicle idling and pointed in the wrong direction. The officer approached the driver after recognizing the vehicle as one associated with previous gun-related crimes, police said.Branch left the car and got into his mom’s, which was nearby, police said. The officer notified dispatch about Branch’s actions and told them Branc...