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Census Bureau wants to test asking about sexual orientation and gender identity on biggest survey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

The U.S. Census Bureau asked the Biden administration Tuesday for permission to test questions about sexual orientation and gender identity for people age 15 and above on its most comprehensive annual survey of life in the country.The statistical agency wants to test the wording, response categories and placement of gender identity and sexual orientation questions on the questionnaires for the American Community Survey, which collects data from 3.5 million households each year. The ACS covers a wide range of topics, from family life, income, education levels and employment to commuting times, internet access, disabilities and military service.Federal agencies are interested in the data for civil rights and equal employment enforcement, the Census Bureau said in a Federal Register notice.Because of the American Community Survey’s size, asking those questions will give researchers a chance to look at differences among LGBTQ+ people, whether some face bigger challenges than other...

Israeli military raid kills 2 in West Bank. Officials say 3rd man killed by Israeli fire in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday, killing two people and wounding some 30 others, according to Palestinian health officials. A third Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in separate unrest in the Gaza Strip, officials said.The bloodshed in Jenin was the latest in a deadly wave of fighting in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has stepped up its activities over the past year and a half in what it says is an effort to crack down on Palestinian militants. Tensions now appear to be spreading to Gaza.The Israeli army gave few details about the operation in the camp — a stronghold of Palestinian militants where the army often carries out deadly raids. In July, Israel launched its most intense operation in the West Bank in nearly two decades, leaving widespread destruction in the camp.The army said it carried out a rare strike with a suicide drone during the operation, but gave no further information. Palestinian ...

A teen girl found an iPhone in an airplane bathroom. Her family says it was put there to record her

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a 14-year-old girl who allegedly discovered an iPhone taped to the back of a toilet seat on a recent flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston said they believe it was put there to record her by a member of the crew.During the Sept. 2 American Airlines flight 1441, the girl was told by a male member of the crew to use the first-class bathroom. The crew member entered just before the 14-year-old, told her the seat was broken but not to worry about it and then re-entered the bathroom after she left, her family said in a written statement.After using the toilet, the girl realized that a largely obscured iPhone had been affixed to the back of the toilet seat, apparently to record her. She took a picture of this with her own phone before leaving the bathroom.“These events have left our daughter — and entire family — shocked and profoundly disturbed,” the family wrote in a statement.Paul Llewellyn, a lawyer representing the family, said they have not yet...

Book Review: ‘Astor’ is a primer on the rise and fall one of America’s richest families

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s hard to escape the name Astor when you are in New York: from Astor Place downtown to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and even the neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, the family’s legacy is everywhere.In “Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune,” CNN journalist Anderson Cooper and his co-writer Katherine Howe trace the famous family’s legacy from its beginning, when John Jacob Astor immigrated from Germany and established himself in the beaver fur trade, a bloody and highly competitive business. He invested his fortune in buying up land in the rapidly developing island of Manhattan and became one of the richest men in the U.S.Cooper and Howe wrote the book as a follow-up to “Vanderbilt,” a chronicle of Cooper’s own famous family that came out in 2021. “Astor” sketches how subsequent generations either built on or frittered away the family’s initial fortune. It ends with the elder abuse case of Brooke Astor in the 2000s. At times, the narrative drifts away fr...

Several security forces killed in an ambush by gunmen in Nigeria’s southeast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen opened fire and killed several members of a patrol of security forces in Nigeria’s southeastern region Tuesday, police said, in the latest in a spate of violent attacks that typically are blamed on separatist militants.A team of various Nigerian security agencies were patrolling a remote community in Imo state’s Ehime Mbano district when they were ambushed by the gunmen, police said.Authorities said they were still investigating the attack and that they could not immediately confirm the number of dead, but Lagos-based newspapers reported eight of the security personnel were killed, citing local sources. Videos that appeared to have been shot at the scene showed bodies of the security forces lying beside burning vehicles.The police in Imo said security forces have been deployed to restore calm to an area that has become concerned over the trend of such attacks in areas with inadequate security presence. “The commissioner of police has ordered an inv...

What is the Sikh separatist movement at centre of the Canada-India dispute?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

The shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., in June has touched off a foreign affairs crisis between Canada and India over the Sikh leader’s role in the Khalistan separatism movement. Here is what you need to know about the movement.What is Khalistan? Khalistan is the term used for the quest of an independent Sikh homeland centred around the Indian state of Punjab where Sikhs make up a majority of the population. The group comprises about 1.7 per cent of India’s overall population.How long has the Khalistan movement been around? The idea for a separate Sikh state has been around for at least 300 years, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The idea featured prominently during the talks before the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.Where is the movement now? A report by the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society at the University of Waterloo says the movement in Punjab peaked in the 1980s and early 1990s with a number of ...

Hyundai rushing to open Georgia plant because of law rewarding domestic electric vehicle production

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A top Hyundai executive said Tuesday that the company is rushing to start electric vehicle and battery production as soon as possible at a $7.6 billion complex in coastal Georgia, spurred by federal electric vehicle incentives that reward domestic production.Hyundai President and Global Chief Operating Officer Jose Munoz made the remarks to reporters in Atlanta after signing a partnership with Georgia Tech aimed at strengthening research into hydrogen-fueled vehicles and producing workers for the Korean company. Among attendees was Euisun Chung, executive chairman of parent Hyundai Motor Group.The group, which also makes Kia and Genesis vehicles, has complained that the Inflation Reduction Act is unfair to companies importing electric batteries or vehicles from outside North America. The massive federal law, one of President Joe Biden’s signature accomplishments, is aimed in part at combating climate change. The law provides a tax credit that saves EV buyers up ...

NASA predicts large asteroid impact could be in Earth's future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

Related video above is an interview with a NASA astronaut about his extended stay in space.(WTAJ) -- NASA scientists are predicting a chance that asteroid Bennu will strike Earth in the future, potentially affecting an area the size of Texas.Bennu is a Near-Earth Object (NEO) that passes by the planet roughly every six years, and experts have been watching it since it was discovered in September 1999. According to scientists, Bennu has a chance to pass through what they call a "gravity keyhole," which would send it on a collision course with Earth in the year 2182. What are the bright lights over Central Pennsylvania? A new paper from the OSIRIS-REx science team predicts Bennu has a 0.037% chance (1 in 2,700) of hitting Earth; this will largely depend on another flyby. In 2135, Bennu will zoom past Earth just close enough that our planet's gravitational pull could affect it in just the right way to put it on a path to hit us on Sept. 24, 2182 -- almost 159 years to the day from t...

MedWatch Digest: One of the world's leading causes of death, disability identified — and more

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

For Tuesday, Sept. 19, WGN’s Dina Bair has new medical information, including: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch WHO releases report on hypertension The World Health Organization has identified high blood pressure as one of the world's leading causes of death and disability. The conclusion comes from the agency's first report on the global impact of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. According to the report, it affects one in three adults worldwide. The study recommends strategies to combat the condition, including diet, medicine access, and exercise.  The report says an increase in the number of people effectively treated for hypertension could prevent 76 million deaths between 2023 and 2050. Study: Kids with increased screen time seen lower developmental scores in toddlers Screen time — it can have a significant impact on brain performance. Looking at nearly 60,000 children over several years, researchers from Japan found that increased television and video time i...

Bears' set an NFL record during their losing streak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:23 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Once again, the Bears are dealing with a record streak after another defeat this past weekend. This time it has something to do with what they're surrendering on a game-by-game basis to their opponents, which has been a struggle for almost a year.On Sunday, the Bucs scored 27 points on the Bears - 20 on offense and seven on defense - to beat the visitors by ten at Raymond James Stadium. It's the 12th straight loss for the team dating back to Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season, which continues the Bears' franchise record for futility.But because of the amount of points they've allowed during that streak, they've managed to set an NFL record, and it's not a good one. The Bears are the first team in league history to lose 12 consecutive games and allow at least 25 points in every one of those contests. Sunday's loss to Tampa Bay was the second-lowest point total the team has given up in that stretch as they also allowed 27 to the Falcons in a Week 11 loss in Atlanta last...