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Ambitious agenda for Biden on upcoming three-nation Indo-Pacific trip as debt default looms at home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has an ambitious agenda when he sets off this week on an eight-day trip to the Indo-Pacific. He’s looking to tighten bonds with longtime allies, make history as the first sitting U.S. president to visit the tiny island state of Papua New Guinea and spotlight his administration’s commitment to the Pacific. The three-country trip also presents the 80-year-old Biden, who recently announced he’s running for reelection, with the opportunity to demonstrate that he still has enough in the tank to handle the grueling pace of the presidency. But as he prepares to head west, Biden finds himself in a stalemate with Republican lawmakers over raising America’s debt limit. If the matter is not resolved in the coming weeks, it threatens to spark an economic downturn.A look at what’s at stake in Biden’s upcoming trip:WHERE IS BIDEN GOING?Biden first heads to Hiroshima, Japan, for the Group of Seven summit. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida...

New Hampshire police say 4 people wounded in shooting at graduation party

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Police in New Hampshire are investigating a shooting at a graduation party that wounded four people, police said.The victims who were injured in the shooting in Manchester reported just before 5 p.m. Saturday included two women and two men, all in their 20s, who are expected to survive, police said.Manchester Police Lt. Matthew Barter said Saturday the investigation is ongoing. “Our detectives are out there working, they’ll be working into the night,” he said.Initial reports said two males in hoods approached the gathering and at least one of them fired a weapon. The two males were seen fleeing the area. Police said the shooting did not appear to be random. “Families and friends should be able to gather in peace — gun violence is unacceptable in our community. Thankfully there were no fatalities, and my heart goes out to the victims and the families of those who were injured,” Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig said in a statement to WMUR-TV.The Associa...

3 people injured shooting in River North

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

CHICAGO — Three people were shot early Sunday morning in Chicago's River North, according to the Chicago fire and police departments.The shooting happened around 3 a.m. near West Hubbard Street and North State Street. 1 dead, at least 9 injured in crash on Chicago’s South Side A man, 22, and another man, 26, were both shot multiple times and taken to the hospital in critical condition, officials said. A man, 32, was shot in the left arm and was stable when they were transported to a hospital. Chicago police said the men were standing on the sidewalk when people in two cars were shooting at each other and were struck by the gunfire.No one has been arrested yet and the incident is still under investigation.

Mother's Day treats with Honey Pie and Beard and Belly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

CHICAGO — The owner of Honey Pie and Beard and Belly stopped by WGN Weekend Morning News to talk about some Mother's Day treats.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter. You can watch the full segment with Andrew Barbera in the player above.

Sunday Forecast: Mostly cloudy and some showers for Mother's Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

Today: Mostly cloudy & scat'd showers. A bit chilly & cooler lakeside. NE 10-15, G25  mphTonight: Mostly cloudy & chance of showers. NE 10-15 mph Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Monday: Decreasing clouds & milder. NE 10-15 mphThe extended outlook has us sunnier and warmer for Tuesday with highs in the mid to upper 70s.Wednesday in the upper 60 and low 70s. Thursday and Friday both have a chance of showers with highs in the mid to upper 60s to low 70s. 

Lake Mead discovery surfaces half-century-old investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As Lake Mead's water levels receded and human remains nearly 50 years gone surfaced, a half-century-old investigation has returned to the spotlight.Donald Smith, 39, from North Las Vegas, vanished during a boat ride at Lake Mead near Calville Bay in April 1974. Documents obtained by Nexstar's 8newsnow.com show Smith had left his home at around 1 p.m. on the day of his disappearance. His wife said Smith had been drinking, but that he wasn't drunk. She said he had taken his handgun with him and had loaded a shotgun into the cabin of his boat.Documents obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators surface a centuries-old case. | Photo: KLASAbout two hours later, two of Smith's longtime friends, floating 150 feet away from his boat, said they saw him fall back into the lake with his hands thrown up. About one minute later, they said they arrived at where Smith had dropped into the water and found one deck shoe floating on the surface. After diving in to search fo...

Delays worsen in Texas Crime Victim Compensation Program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — When a group of men killed 22-year-old Bakari Henderson during a 2017 vacation in Greece, it didn’t just leave his mother Jill Henderson with crushing grief. Bakari’s death also led to an emotionally-draining legal saga abroad and his family dealing with unexpected, but critical, expenses.To help move forward with her life, and assist with the financial burden of having to fly back and forth to attend an overseas trial, Jill did what thousands of other Texans who have been affected by violent crime do each year: she applied for help from the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation Program. And, like thousands of others trying to access the program each year, Jill found herself struggling to get her claim processed and enough compensation to handle the bills.In March, Jill traveled to the Texas Capitol and joined more than 100 other victims of violent crime — and their family members — to support legislation that would improve and expand access to benefits and reimbursement...

Warm spring day inspires a quest for crappies on Lake Sarah

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

ERSKINE, Minn. — The seeds for this little adventure had been planted a couple of days earlier in a late-night text message.“Whatcha doing Tuesday?” it read. “It’s going to be 70 degrees and windless. I would take you to my serious early crappie spot in my boat if you are game. Easy peasy if you want to go.”With weather like that in the forecast after a winter that seemed as if it would never end, the invitation was too good to resist.As fishing fun goes, spring crappies are pretty tough to beat.There was reason for optimism. Craig Hanson of Grand Forks, N.D., has plied the waters of Lake Sarah for years, most recently in April 2021, when he and a son-in-law hit the kind of spring crappie bonanza of which fishing memories are made.For a confirmed crappie fanatic, it doesn’t get much better.“We were just ecstatic,” Hanson said.The parking lot was empty when Hanson pulled into the boat ramp Tuesday afternoon, May 9. That would likely change for Saturday’s Minnesota Fishing Opene...

Colorado’s doctors and nurses are still disproportionately white. These groups are trying to change that.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

Neko Upson doesn’t have to wonder whether she’s making a difference for her patients. She sees it when she walks in the room and their tension drains away.“They see someone who looks like them, and you can see them relax,” she said.Upson said she’s one of only four certified nurse midwives in Denver who are Black. While her white colleagues also can provide high-quality care, they have to work to break through the distrust that many patients of color have in the health system, while people from the same background have an easier time forming a relationship, she said.In Colorado, as is the case nationwide, Black and Hispanic people working in the health field are overrepresented in lower-paid jobs, like aides and support staff, but underrepresented among doctors, nurses, midwives and other jobs that pay more and require more education.As of 2021, about 1.4% of people working as health care providers in Colorado were Black and 8.2% were Hispanic, accordin...

Jane Earle, journalist and former Denver Post staffer, dies at age 88

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:42 GMT

Jane Earle, a journalist, writer, and academic, died April 9 at her Denver home. She was 88.Jane Earle, reporter for The Denver Post since 1970, was named executive editor of the Denver Magazine. Earle is pictured on Jan. 6, 1977. (Denver Post file)Born on March 23, 1935, in Kentucky, Earle began her career in journalism in Ohio and also worked at The Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma City Journal before joining the staff of The Denver Post in 1970 as a feature writer. At the Post, Earle switched beats to cover federal courts and federal agencies and during her seven year tenure she also covered state government, the legislature and minority political affairs. Among Earle’s stories at the Post were pieces on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; the Chicano Movement and the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973.“A journalist most of her life, she was a writer first and foremost with a deep appreciation forthe role of the press in defending American democracy,” sai...