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Democrats adjourning Michigan Legislature to ensure new presidential primary date

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democrats who were passing legislation at a historic pace will abruptly end their session Tuesday as they grapple with internal divisions and a temporarily deadlocked state House. Lawmakers are adjourning nearly a month early and delaying key legislation until next year to ensure that new legislation will take effect making Michigan the fifth state to hold its presidential primary on Feb. 27.The decision to end early also comes after two Democratic state representatives won mayoral races, erasing the House’s slim Democratic majority. The chamber is split 54-54 until special elections can be held in several months.Michigan Democrats had worked at a record pace at the start of the year after regaining full control of the Legislature while already holding the governor’s mansion last year for the first time since 1983. They passed a number of pent-up policy priorities, such as a gun safety package and increased protections for LGBTQ+ people and abort...

Wisconsin state Senate to vote on downsized Milwaukee Brewers stadium repair bill

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin state Senate is poised to approve a plan to spend more than half a billion dollars of public funds to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their stadium over the next three decades.The Senate is expected to vote on the proposal during a floor session set to begin Tuesday morning. As of last week, Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu was still trying to lock down enough votes to push the package. At least three GOP members, Julian Bradley, Steve Nass and Van Wanggaard, have said they oppose the bill and Sen. LaTonya Johnson has said she’s the only Milwaukee Democrat who supports the package. But legislative leaders typically don’t schedule bills for floor votes unless they’re certain of passage, signaling LeMahieu has mustered up 17 votes between the two parties. Approval would send the package to the Assembly. Speaker Robin Vos has signaled his support. Assembly passage would put the bill in front of Gov. Tony Evers, who can sign it i...

At summit, Biden aims to show he can focus on Pacific amid crises in Ukraine, Mideast and Washington

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden is looking to use this week’s summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to show world leaders the United States has the gumption, attention span and money to focus on the region even as it grapples with a multitude of foreign and domestic policy crises.Biden’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday is the main event of his four-day visit to San Francisco, where leaders from the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are gathering for their annual summit. The talks with Xi are of enormous importance as the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies try to find a measure of stability after what’s been a difficult year for U.S.-China relations.But the White House also wants to demonstrate to APEC’s leaders that Biden can remain focused on the Pacific while also trying to keep the Israel-Hamas war from exploding into a broader regional conflict and to persuade ...

Tourists find the Las Vegas Strip remade for its turn hosting Formula One

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The famous fountains at the Bellagio won’t be very visible this week amid the roar of Formula One racing on the Las Vegas Strip, and gondoliers won’t be serenading tourists at the Venetian resort.“Fountains have been shut off, canals drained, streets closed or harder to navigate,” Michael Green, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas history professor, said after six months of road work and temporary grandstand construction for some of the most monied spectators in sports. “What are they calling it? Stripmageddon? It is clearly causing a lot of uproar.”“But this is a different kind of big event,” said Green, who remembers two Grand Prix races held 42 years ago at Caesars Palace. “We’re talking about billionaires from around the world. They’re going to bring in a ton of money. They’re not necessarily the usual tourist.”Organizers, local officials and hotel operators believe the discomfort will be forgotten after racing ends late Saturday. They hope Las Vegas w...

Thousands in Mexico demand justice for LGBTQ+ figure found dead after death threats

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands marched in Mexico’s capital Monday night demanding justice for Jesús Ociel Baena, an influential LGBTQ+ figure who was found dead at home in the central city of Aguascalientes after receiving death threats.Baena was the first openly nonbinary person to assume a judicial post in Mexico, becoming a magistrate in the Aguascalientes state electoral court, and broke through other barriers in a country where LGBTQ+ people are often targeted with violence.The state prosecutor’s office confirmed that Baena was found dead Monday morning next to another person, who local media and LGBTQ+ rights groups identified as Baena’s partner, Dorian Herrera.State prosecutor Jesús Figueroa Ortega said at a news conference that the two displayed injuries apparently caused by a knife or some other sharp object.“There are no signs or indications to be able to determine that a third person other than the dead was at the site of the crime,” Figuerora Ortega said.The su...

The last government shutdown deadline ousted the House speaker. This week’s showdown could be easier

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last time Congress tried to fund the government to prevent a federal shutdown, it cost House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his job.This time, new Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appears on track for a better outcome Tuesday as the House prepares to vote on a stopgap package to keep the government running into the new year. If approved, the Senate would act next, ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.The new Republican leader faces the same political problem that led to McCarthy’s ouster, and is unlikely to win enough support from his Republican majority to pass the bill on its own. Instead, Johnson will be forced to rely on Democrats to ensure passage to keep the federal government running. Johnson has called it a “necessary bill” that he hoped would put House Republicans “in the best position to fight” for their conservative priorities in the new year. Under his proposal, Johnson is putting forward a unique — critics say bizarre — two-part process that tempora...

Colorado supermarket shooting suspect’s case finally resumes after he’s ruled competent

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors are finally set to lay out their case against a mentally ill man now deemed competent to stand trial in a mass shooting more than two years ago, accused of gunning down 10 people at a supermarket in a Colorado college town. A judge planned a hearing Tuesday to decide if there is enough evidence for Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who has schizophrenia, to go on trial in the March 22, 2021, shooting at a crowded King Soopers store in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver. Authorities have not revealed if they know a motive for the shooting. But a forensic psychologist testified during a hearing in September that the 24-year-old Alissa bought firearms to carry out a mass shooting and indicated “there was some intention to commit suicide by cop.” Alissa, who is charged with murder and multiple attempted murder counts, has not been asked to enter a plea yet. But neither his attorneys nor anyone else has disputed that he was the gunman. At the...

PHOTOS: Denver Broncos upset Buffalo Bills 24-22 in NFL Week 10

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

The Denver Broncos stunned the Buffalo Bills 24-22 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on Nov. 13, 2023. Denver won on a last-minute 36-yard field goal by kicker Wil Lutz.Related ArticlesDenver Broncos | Kiszla: Can bizarre ending to 24-22 victory be beginning of miraculous playoff run for Broncos? Denver Broncos | Heroes and Zeros from Broncos’ win over Buffalo Bills: Ja’Quan McMillian one season’s biggest surprises Denver Broncos | Broncos four downs: Russell Wilson just cooked Josh Allen, Bills in their own dang kitchen Denver Broncos | Broncos walk off Bills on Monday night after Wil Lutz knocks home game-winning 36-yard field goal Denver Broncos | Broncos lineups similar coming out of bye week, including feisty, play-making nickel Ja’Quan McMillian

1 in 3 US Asians and Pacific Islanders faced racial abuse this year, AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll shows

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

By TERRY TANG and LINLEY SANDERS (Associated Press)Despite ongoing advocacy and legislation to combat anti-Asian racism that arose after the pandemic, about a third of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders say they have experienced an act of abuse based on their race or ethnicity in the last year, including being on the receiving end of verbal harassment, slurs, physical threats or cyberbullying. A new poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 15% of Asian American and Pacific Islanders specifically say they believe they have ever been the victim of a hate crime. About half — 51% — believe racism is an “extremely” or “very serious” problem in the U.S.From as early as a decade ago to as recently as two weeks ago, Jennifer Lee, a 29-year-old Filipino American in San Diego, can recall being called racial slurs and being discriminated against. She recently interviewed for a job at a tutoring service. Th...

Kiszla: Can bizarre ending to 24-22 victory be beginning of miraculous playoff run for Broncos?

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:41:45 GMT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When the football reaper came knocking, announced by the deathly chill of Old Man Winter’s breath on the back of their necks, the Broncos climbed out of the abyss and beat the Bills 24-22 in a way so weird this Monday night that will long be remembered as the Brain Freeze in Buffalo.I can’t believe what I just saw. Was this the NFL? Or Bizarro World?In the chaos of the fourth quarter’s final seconds, Denver kicker Wil Lutz, whose night had been one, long, slow-motion pratfall of botched kicks, rushed on the field with his teammates and doinked a 41-yard field goal that had everybody in the stadium thinking the Bills had escaped with a one-point victory.“I couldn’t tell if (Lutz) made it,” Broncos coach Sean Payton admitted. “Did he put it wide right?”He did. But Lutz was bailed out by the foolish fisherman of Lake Erie that couldn’t count to 11. In their haste to get its special teams unit on the field,...