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Victims of violent crime drive legislative change to state programs, pushing against barriers to aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

Vanessa Martinez was finishing preparations for her daughter’s second birthday in September 2021 when her ex-boyfriend broke into her Mesa, Arizona, condo and shot her in the head as she frantically tried to shield their three young children.Doctors had to remove a third of her skull, but Martinez survived.She left the hospital facing a fight for custody of her kids, who’d been placed in state care after the attack. She needed a new place to live after much of the house was damaged in a standoff between police and her shooter. Her 4-year-old son needed trauma counseling.Arizona has a state safety net — local victim compensation programs — for victims of violent attacks like Martinez. But she was denied help because she was behind on about $900 in court fines from unrelated incidents, including one dating back nearly a decade. Program officials told Martinez she could reapply if she got current with a payment plan, but every dollar she made was needed for things like finding a ...

Former Connecticut lawmaker to be sentenced for coronavirus aid thefts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former Connecticut state representative is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday for stealing more than $1.2 million from the city of West Haven — most of it in federal coronavirus-related aid — and using a good chunk of it to fuel his gambling addiction.Michael DiMassa, 32, a West Haven Democrat, could get more than four years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. He is asking Judge Omar Williams for leniency.“Mr. DiMassa suffered from a debilitating gambling addiction at the time of the offense,” his lawyer, John Gulash, wrote in a court filing, “and his essentially unfettered access to a deep pool of federal funds and total lack of impulse control facilitated his precipitous downward spiral.”The lawyer compared DiMassa to Howard Ratner, the gambler played by Adam Sandler in the movie “Uncut Gems.” He said he bet on things as frivolous as how long the national anthem would take to perform at the Super Bowl, or what color Gatorade would be pour...

Amazon workers upset over job cuts, return-to-office mandate stage walkout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — A group of Amazon workers upset about recent layoffs, a return-to-office mandate and the company’s environmental impact is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday.The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.As of Tuesday night, more than 1,800 employees had pledged to walk out around the world, with about 870 in Seattle, according to Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a climate change advocacy group founded by Amazon workers. While some plan to gather at the Amazon Spheres — a four-story structure in downtown Seattle that from the outside looks like three connected glass orbs — others will participate remotely.Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, said there has been a good energy on the company’s South...

How and when to remove children from their homes? A federal lawsuit raises thorny questions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — When child welfare workers and police knocked on Sarah Perkins’ and Joshua Sabey’s front door well past midnight one weekend last summer, the parents were shocked to learn the state of Massachusetts had come to take their two young sons.It’s the kind of harrowing scene that plays out daily across the country as social workers motivated by a desire to protect children run up against confused and concerned parents. What followed was emotional anguish, a bureaucratic battle, vindication for the parents and a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a legal advocacy group. The couple hopes for a favorable ruling that will increase oversight of child removals nationwide.The children were taken in Massachusetts because of a child abuse report stemming from a hospital visit. On July 13, 2022, Perkins whisked their 3-month-old son Cal to an emergency room. He had a 103-degree fever.An X-ray checking for pneumonia found a rib fracture the couple hadn’t noticed. After speaking ...

As Supreme Court considers affirmative action, colleges see few other ways to diversity goals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges from California to Florida have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state.But after years of experimentation — often prompted by state-level bans on considering race in admissions — there’s no clear solution. In states requiring race-neutral policies, many colleges have seen enrollment drops among Black and Hispanic students, especially at selective colleges that historically have been mostly white.Now, as the Supreme Court decides the fate of affirmative action, colleges nationwide could soon face the same test, with some bracing for setbacks that could erase decades of progress on campus diversity. A ruling is expected by the end of June.At Amherst College, officials have estimated that going entirely race-neutral would reduce Black...

Northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan evacuated due to wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

FORT CHIPEWYAN, Alta. — A hamlet in northern Alberta has been placed under an evacuation order as a wildfire burns nearby.Residents of Fort Chipewyan, a community of about 800 people, had been told earlier in the day to be ready to leave with 15 minutes’ notice.Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo issued a joint evacuation order for the community.Officials say the out-of-control wildfire is about eight kilometres away from Fort Chipewyan’s airport and is about 30 square kilometres in size.The evacuation is being handled in stages, starting with residents in Allison Bay, the community closest to the wildfire boundary.Air transportation to Fort McMurray, about 300 kilometres to the south, is being arranged, as well as temporary accommodations in Fort McMurray and Fort McKay for evacuees.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023.The Canadian Press

Asian stocks sink before US Congress votes on deal to avoid debt default

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets sank Wednesday ahead of a vote by Congress on a deal to avert a government debt default, while a downturn in Chinese factory activity deepened, adding to signs global economic activity is weakening.Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated. Oil prices declined.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index edged up less than 0.1% on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to line up votes in support of their deal to allow the government to borrow more. Without agreement, officials warn the government will run out of money as soon as next week, which would roil the economy and financial markets.“Any upcoming obstacle to a smooth pass-through of the deal could still trigger some de-risking,” said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report.Also Wednesday, an official Chinese survey of manufacturers found activity contracted in May on weak global and domestic consumer demand.The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6% to 3,204...

DeSantis looks to connect with voters during 1st full day of campaigning in Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis begins his first full day of presidential campaigning on Wednesday with a four-stop blitz through Iowa, trying to prioritize personally connecting with voters while proving he has the mettle to take on former President Donald Trump.The Florida governor has appearances in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Pella and Cedar Rapids, packing in early events in the state whose caucuses kick off the GOP presidential primary voting. From there, he will head to New Hampshire on Thursday and South Carolina on Friday.At his Iowa kickoff event on Tuesday night with wife Casey, DeSantis was initially cautious while addressing an energetic crowd of roughly 500 gathered inside a suburban Des Moines church. But speaking to reporters afterward, he pushed back against Trump in a way he had not before on the national stage. He accused Trump of essentially abandoning “America First” principles on immigration, supporting pandemic-related lockdowns and generally having “move...

Jury selection to begin in trial of former deputy accused of failing to confront Parkland shooter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in the trial of a former Florida sheriff’s deputy charged with failing to confront the shooter who killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago. The attorney for former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson, prosecutors and Circuit Judge Martin Fein are expected to spend several days winnowing through hundreds of prospective jurors to find 50 who say they could serve without prejudice and for the two months the trial is expected to take.From those 50, the attorneys will try next week to agree on a panel of six and four alternates to hear the case. Florida is one of six states that allow six-member juries for trials other than capital murder. The others are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah. All other states use 12-member juries in felony trials. Peterson, 60, remained outside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoo...

Changes to food aid in debt bill would cost money, far from savings GOP envisioned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican attempt to expand work requirements for federal food aid in debt legislation moving through Congress would increase federal spending by $2.1 billion over 10 years — far from the cuts GOP lawmakers had promised.A compromise on the food aid requirements between House Republicans and President Joe Biden as the nation nears a disastrous government default may have backfired for the Republicans, who won the new work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for some able-bodied recipients in exchange for Democratic demands to drop work requirements for some other, more vulnerable recipients such as veterans and the homeless. An estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released late Tuesday said that while the new work requirements in SNAP would save money, the added benefits pushed by Democrats would cost more — and add almost 80,000 people to the rolls in an average month. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., dismiss...