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Democrats keep Pennsylvania House majority, positioning party to prevent limits on abortion rights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats maintained their narrow Pennsylvania House majority Tuesday by winning a special election and along with it continued control over how the chamber will handle abortion, gun rights and election law legislation.Heather Boyd won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the Philadelphia suburbs, beating Republican Katie Ford for a vacancy created by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel. Zabel quit the Legislature in March, shortly after a lobbyist accused him of sexually harassing her.Boyd’s win gives Democrats 102 seats, the minimum needed to control the agenda in the 203-member House. The state Senate has a Republican majority.The Democrats’ victory in the Delaware County district means first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will have at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The result could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment limiting abortion rights that le...

State media reports Chinese fishing boat sinks in Indian Ocean; 39 on board missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — State media reports that a Chinese fishing boat operating in the Indian Ocean has sunk and all 39 crew members on board are missing. Broadcaster CCTV said the sinking happened around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The crew includes 17 from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines, the report said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang have ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors. The Lupenglaiyuanyu No. 8 was based in the eastern province of Shandong, operated by the Penglaiyingyu Co. Ltd. The Associated Press

Dance act Conversion wins Canada’s Got Talent season 2

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

Dance act “Conversion,” hailing from Trois-Rivières, Quebec have won the second season of Canada’s Got Talent.The group received judge Trish Stratus’ Golden Buzzer this season and were described by Stratus as “this season’s storytellers.”The Cast, another dance act from Quebec, were the runners-up, followed by The Turnball Brothers in third and Maeve in fourth.“Conversion” has won $150,000 and financial advice to help further their ambitions along with the opportunity to perform in “America’s Got Talent Presents: SUPERSTARS Live” at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.???? WE HAVE A WINNER! Congratulations #Conversion ???? What an epic night! Thank you #Canada for watching #CGT@Lilly @trishstratuscom @howiemandel @KardinalO @lindsayell @City_tv pic.twitter.com/EZIEvlWMQU— Canada's Got Talent (@CanGotTalent) May 17, 2023On the heels of the Quebec-based dance crew’s win, Citytv has greenlit the series for another season i...

Elizabeth Holmes loses latest bid to avoid prison and gets hit with $452 million restitution bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes appears to be soon bound for prison after an appeals court Tuesday rejected her bid to remain free while she tries to overturn her conviction in a blood-testing hoax that brought her fleeting fame and fortune.In another ruling issued late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ordered Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of her crimes. Holmes is being held jointly liable for that amount with her former lover and top Theranos lieutenant, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who is already in prison after being convicted on a broader range of felonies in a separate trial. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Holmes’ attempt to avoid prison comes nearly three weeks after she deployed a last-minute legal maneuver to delay the start of her 11-year sentence. She had been previously ordered to surrender to authorities on April 27 by Davila, who sentenced her in November.Davila will now set a new d...

Dan McCaffery wins Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Dan McCaffery has won the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania for a vacant seat on the state Supreme Court, which is playing a prominent role in settling disputes over voting rights, abortion rights and gun rights in the presidential battleground.McCaffery defeated Deborah Kunselman in the two-way race. Both currently sit on the state Superior Court, a statewide appellate body that handles appeals from county courts in criminal and civil cases.McCaffery will face the winner of the Republican primary for the seat in the November general election.Competing on the Republican ticket are Carolyn Carluccio, a Montgomery County judge, and Patricia McCullough, a judge on the Commonwealth Court, a statewide appellate court that handles cases involving government agencies or challenges to state laws.On the campaign trail, McCullough has repeatedly boasted of being the “only judge in 2020 in the presidential election in the entire country” to order a halt to her state’s e...

Review: Tom Hanks’ novel shares inside look at moviemaking

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

“The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece,” by Tom Hanks (Knopf)There may be no one better suited to tell the tale of how a movie gets made than Hollywood icon and master of the motion picture Tom Hanks. His debut novel follows the life of a story from its inspiration to when it hits the silver screen. The fictional tale captures the magic of the process, yes, but also the crawling, detail-packed moviemaking step, presented just so in the bulk of the novel. The first act takes place in the ’70s, introducing readers to Robby Anderson, a 5-year-old with a knack for drawing comic strips, and his hero and Marine veteran uncle, Bob Falls. When Uncle Bob exits Robby’s life as quickly as he entered it, all Robby has left of him is a comic likeness he drew of his uncle as a World War II flamethrower superhero.Robby grows up to create a fully fledged comic strip based on said character, and after fast-forwarding to present day, the strip is discovered in a collectio...

MP Michael Chong decries ‘systemic failure’ to notify him of China’s alleged threats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s spy agency has now been formally directed to investigate and disclose any foreign threats against parliamentarians or their families, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Tuesday, while the Conservative MP targeted by Beijing urged his colleagues to go further.Conservative MP Michael Chong was invited to testify before the House affairs committee on Tuesday evening, where he recommended his fellow MPs obtain documents and records related to his case.He said they should better understand the “systemic failure” that led to him learning about threats against his family through the media nearly two years after they were being tracked by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.Chong said he was briefed this month on the contents of the 2021 CSIS intelligence assessment that alleges Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was collecting information about his family members in Hong Kong in order to sanction them.But he said he first learned ab...

Family remembers miracle at Indiana Dunes' Mount Baldy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

What’s true of the Indiana Dunes is true of any body of water. Danger lurks under the surface.There have been more than 20 drownings in these Lake Michigan waters since 2010.In 2013, one drowning was hundreds of yards away from the lake. In fact, this threat to a 6-year-old boy didn’t involve a drop of water. And its unthinkable occurrence astounded the world.  For more Cover Story content, click here It was a July day on a family outing to the popular beach at Mt. Baldy. a 126-foot dune an hour’s drive from Chicago. The Woessner family made that trip from their home in Sterling, Illinois. That’s where we found Nathan’s parents, to take us back to that traumatic summer day a decade ago."It pretty much started out as a long weekend, camping with friends," Greg recalled.  "There was a trail going up to the top of the dunes."Nathan and his friend were following their dads. Suddenly, a panicked call to the dads from the friend who said Nathan disappeared in a hole. Through h...

YouTube’s recommendations send violent and graphic gun videos to 9-year-olds: study

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When researchers at a nonprofit that studies social media wanted to understand the connection between YouTube videos and gun violence, they set up accounts on the platform that mimicked the behavior of typical boys living in the U.S.They simulated two nine-year-olds who both liked video games. The accounts were identical, except that one clicked on the videos recommended by YouTube, and the other ignored the platform's suggestions.The account that clicked on YouTube's suggestions was soon flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos and how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic. One video featured an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50 caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood and brains. Many of the videos violate YouTube's own policies against violent or gory content.The findings show that despite YouTube's rules and content moderation e...

Drier, warmer weather returns for a couple of days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- We are now enjoying above-normal May rainfall after more than a week of on-and-off showers and thunderstorms.Drier, hotter weather comingA ridge of high pressure and drier northwesterly flow kicks in Wednesday and Thursday, removing rain chances from the forecast. Seasonably hot afternoons return with highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees.Temperatures warm Wednesday and ThursdayNext severe thunderstorm riskA cold front moves southeast across our area late Friday night into Saturday morning, leading to our next chance of rain and thunderstorms. The Storm Prediction Center's Day 4 outlook is suggesting possible strong to severe thunderstorms during this time. The chance of precipitation will be 40%. Stay tuned for specific timing details.Severe weather possible late Friday nightThe front passes out of the area Saturday morning leaving a breezy north wind and keeping weekend temperatures cooler and more comfortable.A few showers and thunderstorms will remain possib...