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Ivey signs legislation naming Yellowhammer Cookie as official state cookie

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama now has an official state cookie: The Yellowhammer Cookie.Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed legislation naming the confection created by a Montgomery fourth-grader as the official state cookie. Students at Montgomery’s Trinity Presbyterian School came up with the idea of a state cookie. Fourth-grader Mary Claire Cook submitted the winning recipe, which includes pecans, peanut butter and honey, WSFA-TV reported.Cook brought a batch of the cookies to Ivey for the bill-signing ceremony. Alabama has a long list of official state emblems and symbols, including a state vegetable, nut, amphibian and spirit. The Associated Press

Acclaimed composer Kaija Saariaho dies at age 70 of brain tumor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

Kaija Saariaho, who wrote acclaimed works that made her the among the most prominent composers of the 21st century, died Friday. She was 70.Saariaho died at her apartment in Paris, her family said in a statement posted on her Facebook page. She had been diagnosed in February 2021 with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain tumor.“The multiplying tumors did not affect her cognitive facilities until the terminal phase of her illness,” the statement said. Her family said Saariaho had undergone experimental treatment at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.“Kaija’s appearance in a wheelchair or walking with a can have prompted many questions, to which she answered elusively,” the family said. “Following her physician’s advice, she kept her illness a private matter, in order to maintain a positive mindset and keep the focus of her work.” Her “L’Amour de Loin (Love from Afar)” premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2000 and made its U.S. debut at the Santa Fe Oper...

Prosecutor in case of Virginia man killed at psychiatric hospital announces resignation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — The state prosecutor handling the case against 10 people charged in the death of a Virginia man who was pinned to the floor while being admitted to a psychiatric hospital said she is resigning to attend graduate school in Paris. Ann Cabell Baskervill told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that her resignation as the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Dinwiddie County will become effective on June 20.Baskervill said her acceptance to a master’s program in international governance and diplomacy at the Paris Institute of Political Studies is a dream come true that coincided awkwardly with the death of Irvo Otieno.“I had accepted the offer of admission on March 4, but then Irvo Otieno was killed on March 6 so I didn’t say anything publicly because I didn’t want it to be a distraction from the very important discussion on his case,” Baskervill said.“It does break my heart to leave (the Otieno case) open like that,” Baskervill said. “But I know this is the right thing ...

Police testify about confronting gunman at Pittsburgh synagogue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

Police on Friday described how they exchanged fire with a gunman who carried out the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, frantic to get wounded worshippers to safety as they shot and neutralized the suspect.Several officers took the stand on fourth day of the prosecution’s case against Robert Bowers, whose lawyers have acknowledged he shot and killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 but are working to spare his life.Bowers, who surrendered after being shot three times, was asked at the scene why he’d done it and responded that he “had enough. They were killing our children,” and “all Jews need to die,” Officer Clint Thimons, a member of the SWAT team, told jurors at the federal courthouse in Pittsburgh.Survivors have previously testified about the terror they felt that day as Bowers barged into the synagogue and shot everyone he could find.Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, faces 63 federal char...

Panama launches operation in Darien jungle targeting organized crime and migrant smugglers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

NICANOR, Panama (AP) — Panama launched a security operation along its shared border with Colombia on Friday to combat criminal gangs and migrant smugglers involved in record-setting migration through the perilous Darien Gap this year.Security officials said the “Shield” campaign is part of an agreement reached with the governments of Colombia and the United States in April to stop the flow of migrants through the border’s jungle-clad mountains.At a naval air base in Panama’s far east Darien province, rifle-toting border police outfitted in camouflage were conducting drills Friday on the tarmac in front of helicopters previously donated by the U.S. government.Panama will dedicate some 1,200 immigration agents, border police and members of the naval air service to what it said will be an air, land and sea effort. The targets will not be the hundreds of migrants traversing the dense jungle each day, but the organized criminal groups that prey on and profit from them on both sides...

As end of session nears, Louisiana lawmakers advance controversial LGBTQ+-related bills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As Louisiana’s legislative session nears adjournment, lawmakers in the Republican-dominated legislature pushed forward controversial LGBTQ+-related bills, including advancing a resurrected ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths Friday.Despite the state Constitution requiring lawmakers to focus on fiscal and budgetary matters this session, several bills that opponents say target the LGBTQ+- community — similar to GOP-authored legislation passed in statehouses across the country this legislative season — have become a contentious part of this year’s culture-divide debates in Louisiana’s Capitol.One bill, which has received statewide and national attention, would prohibit hormone treatments, gender-affirming surgery and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender minors in Louisiana. So far, at least 18 states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, and all three of Louisiana’s bordering states have enacted ...

8 construction workers injured as building partially collapses during concrete mishap in New Haven

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A building under construction partially collapsed Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, when a concrete pour went awry, injuring eight workers, including two critically, city officials said, adding there were no fatalities.City firefighters and other authorities were called to Lafayette Street shortly after 12:30 p.m.“Our units responded immediately within minutes and found several persons in varying degrees of injury, from broken bones to three that were partially buried under the rubble,” Fire Chief John Alston Jr. said during a news conference.Firefighters used ladders and ropes to get to the victims through sharp, broken rebar and other debris, witnesses and officials said. Some victims were hoisted out of the deep hole in rescue baskets attached to ropes, while others were pulled out of the side of the building.“We heard a crash and we jumped up,” said Danean Doheny, a medical assistant who was working on the fourth floor of a neighboring building and witnessed t...

Biden to say default 'crisis averted' in Oval Office address on debt ceiling deal Friday evening

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden planned to highlight a “crisis averted" in his inaugural speech to the nation from the Oval Office Friday evening, as he prepared to sign a budget agreement that eliminates the potential for a first-ever government default that would have sent shock waves through the U.S. and global economies.The bipartisan measure was approved by the Senate late Thursday night after passing the House in yet another late session the night before. Biden is expected to sign it at the White House on Saturday with just two days to spare until the Treasury Department has warned the U.S. wouldn't be able to meet its obligations.The agreement was hashed out by Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, giving Republicans some of their demanded federal spending cuts but holding the line on major Democratic priorities. It raises the debt limit until 2025 — after the 2024 presidential election — and gives legislators budget targets for the next two years, in hopes of assurin...

Suburban husband accused of shooting estranged wife caught in New Mexico: police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A Zion man on the run after allegedly shooting his estranged wife and another man amid a domestic dispute is now in police custody, authorities said Friday. According to Waukegan police, 42-year-old Tomas Tapia was taken into custody in New Mexico. He is now awaiting extradition back to Illinois for the double shooting. Police considered Tapia 'armed and dangerous' amid warnings that the alleged shooter was on the run. Police said in an update Friday that Tapia was traveling with an unknown companion. When stopped in New Mexico, Tapia approached police and informed them he was wanted in connection with a double shooting in Waukegan. Aurora man sentenced to 100 years for breaking into woman’s home, sexually assaulting her Law enforcement officials confirmed Tapia's claim to be true and he was arrested. On May 24, police responded to the 1300 block of Bridge Drive and located two gunshot victims in the parking lot.Tapia's wife suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach...

Skilling: Warm, dry weekend ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:55:55 GMT

Chicago records a 4th consecutive day in the 90s—and the 7th consecutive day of ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS FridayEast winds off Lake Michigan set up another day with a BIG TEMP SPREAD from the lakeshore to inland areas. At mid-afternoon Friday, temps ranged from 96 at Oswego and 95 at Warrenville and Plainfield to 66 at the Wilmette Harbor buoy, 68 at Waukegan Harbor and 73 on the Lake Forest shoreline.  That's a spread of as much as 29-deg.Air quality issues continued Friday with the Illinois EPA issuing an AIR QUALITY ALERT due to elevated ozone and particulate levels.We're back to a dry weather situation.  NO RAIN OR T-STORMS in the Chicago area Friday.  That had been expected. Isolated storms formed over western Illinois---well west of the Chicago area. Drying has occurred with dew points, a measure of atmospheric moisture, way down—as low as the upper 40s Friday afternoon versus the muggy 60s Wed and Thursday.Thursday's rains were selective and, while heavy at ...