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Jury convicts ex-chief of staff of lying to protect his boss, former Illinois House speaker Madigan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury in Chicago on Thursday convicted a former chief of staff to longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of lying under oath to a grand jury to protect his once-powerful boss who is scheduled to go on trial on multiple corruption charges.The 68-year-old Tim Mapes, who served for almost two decades as the Democrat’s chief of staff, was convicted of one count of perjury and one of attempted obstruction of justice. Obstruction alone carries up to 20 years in prison, while the perjury count carries up to five years behind bars. The conviction strikes uncomfortably close to home for the now 81-year-old Madigan who, for decades, was one of the most powerful state legislative leaders in the nation. Many once thought he was untouchable because he was too smart, careful and well-connected. Then, in 2022, he was indicted on charges that included racketeering and bribery.At the Mapes trial, prosecutors told jurors he lied repeatedly when he testified in 2021 to...

Environmental group suffers setback in legal fight to close California’s last nuclear power plant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

A California judge on Thursday rejected an environmental group’s lawsuit that sought to block the state’s largest utility from seeking to extend the operating life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.Friends of the Earth sued in state Superior Court in April, hoping to derail a state-backed proposal to keep the twin-domed plant running for at least five additional years. The group was part of a 2016 agreement with operator Pacific Gas & Electric to shutter the state’s last nuclear power plant by 2025. Amid concerns over power supplies in a changing climate, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature opened the way for PG&E to seek a longer lifespan last year. In legal filings, the environmental group argued that the 2016 deal to close the reactors “is not fully extinguished,” and that the utility would break what it called a binding contract if it asked federal regulators to extend the operating licenses.In an 18-page ruling, Judge Ethan P. Schulman dismisse...

Flooding fills tunnels leading to Detroit airport, forces water rescues in Ohio and Las Vegas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — Heavy rain flooded an Ohio highway where people were rescued from their cars, covered the Las Vegas strip with water and closed a busy airport terminal outside Detroit.Parts of the western United States have been deluged in recent weeks with rain from Tropical Storm Hilary and much of the central U.S. was beaten down by deadly sweltering heat. In Hawaii and Washington, emergency crews battled catastrophic wildfires.Parts of southeast Michigan got over 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain by Thursday morning resulting in street flooding in the Detroit area, including tunnels leading to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in the suburb of Romulus, officials said. Officials started reopening the McNamara Terminal Wednesday. Mitzi Hale and her three sons ate some snacks out of a vending machine as they awaited word on the status of the terminal.The 42-year-old from Brighton and her sons — 10, 13 and 20 — were to board a mid-morning flight to Florida. They were scheduled to...

2SLGBTQ+ advocates sound alarm over federal Conservative proposals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

The Conservative Party of Canada is set to debate a variety of resolutions at its policy convention in Quebec next month, but two of the proposals, which relate to gender identity, have 2SLGBTQ+ advocates sounding the alarm.The proposed policies aim to prohibit gender-affirming care for anyone under 18 and to protect what they call “single-sex spaces” like washrooms. Transgender advocates are concerned, saying this would take away their rights, and that the anti-trans movement is based on fear-mongering and conspiracy theories.Fae Johnstone, president of the Society of Queer Momentum, says debates like this are hurting the community.“We’re seeing more hate messages on social media,” Johnstone said. “We’re seeing more demonization of our communities and is a genuine fear, and it’s a reasonable fear, that we’re going to regress in Canada.”Helen Kennedy with Egale Canada also expressed concern over the resolutions.“It...

TSB report warns that unnoticed locomotive fires pose wildfire risk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is warning about the risks of fires going unnoticed on locomotives and setting wildfires, citing dozens of on-board blazes in a report into an incident two years ago in southeast British Columbia.The board says there have been at least 21 more on-board fires involving “remote” locomotives in the middle or at the end of a train since the incident, with 34 occurring in the 10 years before.The board says a mechanical failure on a locomotive in the middle of a Canadian Pacific freight train caused fire and embers to shoot out of its exhaust, setting a wildfire near the tiny community of Caithness in July 2021.It says the on-board fire wasn’t detected until it was seen by the crew of a passing train, while the trackside fire grew to 1.2 hectares before it was put out by local volunteers and the BC Wildfire Service.The board says freight locomotives aren’t equipped with real-time sensors to detect fires, and it’s conc...

Prevent illegal mass data extraction, privacy authorities tell social media firms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal privacy watchdog and some of his global counterparts are urging the largest social media companies to prevent bulk extraction of personal details from their websites.In a joint statement, privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and data protection authorities from Australia, Britain and other countries say the practice, known as data scraping, poses a serious risk.They warn that personal information has been used for targeted cyberattacks, identity fraud, creating facial recognition databases, unauthorized police intelligence gathering, and unwanted direct marketing and spam. A 2021 investigation by Canada’s privacy commissioner and three provincial watchdogs found that Clearview AI’s scraping of billions of images of people from across the internet represented mass surveillance of Canadians.The new joint statement, an initiative of the Global Privacy Assembly’s International Enforcement Cooperation Working Group, is signed by Dufresne and representat...

How Wrigley Field plans to keep concert-goers cool for blazing Guns N' Roses show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

CHICAGO — Guns N' Roses is ready to rock out at 'The Friendly Confines' in Wrigleyville despite the area remaining under an Excessive Heat Warning. The rock and roll Hall of Fame group, set to perform at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at a sold-out Wrigley Field, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to let Chicagoans know "tonight is going to be special!"Hours before start time, around 3 p.m., temperatures in Chicago hit 100 degrees, a first for the city since July 6, 2022, according to WGN weather producer Bill Synder. With temperatures soaring, Wrigley Field officials ask concert-goers to "stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, us(ing) sunscreen and tak(ing) breaks from the sun when necessary."A spokesperson adds that misters will be available for attendees in the upper deck on the right and left field patios. Cooling stations will be throughout Wrigley Field at the Marquee Gate, the terrace above the Gallagher Way Gate, and the right field concourse. A "cooling bus" on Waveland Avenue w...

COVID-19 cases rise, CDC recommends updated vaccine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting an uptick in COVID-19 cases across the country and health officials are recommending families be proactive to protect themselves going into the fall.The CDC reports a more than 20% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since the previous week."Still not at the same level that we saw, for example, even a year ago. But it is an increase and it is a reminder that COVID-19 will be with us,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC Principal deputy director.To avoid an infection, Shah is recommending families get the updated vaccine when it's released in mid-September."Not only does the help keep you and your families safe, it also reduces the potential strain on hospitals,” Shah said.Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician at John Hopkins University, said he's seeing the uptick in cases firsthand, specifically among patients with weakened immune systems."It's mutated where it's lot more ...

Bagged corn, mixed vegetables sold at Kroger, Food Lion recalled due to potential listeria contamination

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

(WOWK) – Bags of sweet corn and mixed vegetables sold at Food Lion and Kroger are being recalled due to the possibility of listeria contamination.Twin City Foods, Inc., of Stanwood, Washington, on Tuesday announced the recall of frozen Super Sweet Cut Corn and Mixed Vegetables bags distributed to the retailers nationwide, according to a company announcement posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administrator (FDA) website. Stop using these two types of eye drops, FDA warns The recall involved over a dozen products, which can be identified by their UPC code, lot number and best-if-used-by dates:!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rAs noted in the company announcement, Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in at-risk groups.Listeriosis, the infection caused by foo...

Trump co-defendant being detained was arrested earlier this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:29:45 GMT

(The Hill) - Harrison Floyd, a leader of Black Voices for Trump who was indicted in the Georgia election case, was arrested earlier this year for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent, court filings show.Floyd surrendered at the Fulton County jail Thursday, joining a number of former President Trump's co-defendants, but he is the only one to do so without negotiating bail in advance.The Fulton County Sheriff’s office confirmed Floyd is being detained since he has no bond agreement.Defense attorneys for the other 18 co-defendants have all reached agreements with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) office, allowing them to be released ahead of trial as long as they post bail and follow certain conditions.Interrupting Newsmax's live broadcast outside the jail on his way in, Floyd said, "My name is Harrison Floyd and the district attorney wants me to talk to her, but she doesn’t want to call me." He later surrendered after being ushered away from the media by law enforcement.I...