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Drug treatment, wildfire response and new jobs: Oregon Democrats cite bills at risk amid GOP walkout

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Democratic lawmakers stood on the steps of the state Capitol Tuesday and implored Republicans, who have been boycotting the Senate, to return and vote on a number of bipartisan bills that are at risk of dying because of a political standoff that has now lasted a month.Several statehouses around the nation, including Montana and Tennessee, have been ideological battlegrounds this year. Republicans in the Oregon statehouse conducted walkouts in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to deny enough members for voting on measures. But this one is the most serious yet, threatening hundreds of bills and the approval of state budgets for the next two years.Democrats who held a news conference Tuesday cited a range of bills about urgent issues facing Oregon, including ones aimed at reducing drug overdoses, mitigating wildfire risks and shoring up seismically vulnerable dams, that are in limbo because of the ideological rift. Yet neither side is budging on a bill on protections for ab...

House conservatives block GOP bills, voice frustration in response to last week’s debt ceiling vote

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House conservatives staged a mini-revolt Tuesday in retaliation for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership on last week’s vote to raise the debt ceiling, the right wing banding together to block progress on a mixture of bills and vent their frustration.Led by outspoken members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 11 Republicans broke with their party on an otherwise routine procedural vote that threw the day’s schedule — and the rest of the week — into disarray. It’s the first such procedural rule vote to fail in nearly two decades.The group is among some of the same conservative Republicans who tried to stop the debt ceiling bill from advancing last week and who then threatened to try to oust McCarthy after passage of the debt ceiling package that President Joe Biden signed into law. Short of taking that step, they have demanded a meeting with McCarthy, leaving it unclear how the standoff will be resolved. “We’re frustrated with the way this place is operating,” s...

8 young workers at drug cartel call center killed, bodies placed in bags

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As many as eight young workers were confirmed dead Tuesday in Mexico after they apparently tried to quit jobs at a call center operated by a violent drug cartel that targeted Americans in a real estate scam.U.S. and Mexican officials confirmed the brutal story that unfolded late last month when relatives of the youths reported them missing after they did not return from work in an office near the western city of Guadalajara. Suspicions rose last week when heaps of hacked-up body parts were found in plastic bags. Forensic examiners in the western state of Jalisco said in a statement Monday that tests had confirmed the bodies belonged to the missing call center workers.A total of six men and two women were reported missing between May 20 and May 22, but the forensic examiners did not mention the number of confirmed identities. There had been doubts about whether one of the youths was among the bodies found.While the families believed their children worked at a norma...

Mexico’s foreign minister plans to step down to pursue presidential bid

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday he will resign his position next week to dedicate himself to seeking the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party to be its presidential candidate in next year’s election.Ebrard is among three leading aspirants for the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ruling Morena party.For months, Ebrard has been juggling his foreign policy duties and pre-campaign activities. He said he will resign Monday, June 12.The other leading contenders for the party’s nomination are Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Interior Minister Adán Augusto López.Whomever Morena chooses as its candidate is expected to be the frontrunner in next year’s presidential election.The Associated Press

Defense lawyers ask judge to rule in their favor in lawsuit involving fatal police shooting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Attorneys for Delaware’s largest county and three police officers asked a federal judge on Tuesday to rule in their favor in a lawsuit stemming from a fatal police shooting in 2021.The family of Lymond Moses is suing New Castle County and officers Roberto Ieradi, Robert Ellis and Sean Sweeney-Jones for wrongful death and excessive force. They also allege that the officers acted recklessly and violated Moses’ constitutional rights. The lawsuit also claims the county failed to train police properly and that its policies and practices resulted in Moses’ death.Defense atttorneys argue that the undisputed facts show that the officers were justified in using deadly force, and that Moses’ own actions caused his death. A report commissioned by the Delaware attorney general’s office concluded that the officers were justified in using deadly force.“Mr. Moses made a whole lot of bad decisions that night,” attorney David MacMain, representing the county, told Judge L. Felipe...

Former Speaker Pelosi throws out first pitch at Nationals’ Pride night

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw out the first pitch Tuesday before the Washington Nationals’ annual Night Out game celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.The California Democrat, who said she is a season-ticket holder for both the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers and a regular attendee at Golden State Warriors games, said she had never thrown out a first pitch before a game.“I don’t even watch TV except for sports and so I know better than for a politician to go in front of a sports crowd —- who came for that, right?” Pelosi said. “But this tonight, (for) the LGBTQ, that was a whole different purpose, so I was very honored to do that and take whatever came my way.”Pelosi took pictures before the game with fans on the warning track near the third-base dugout while wearing a No. 52 Nationals jersey with her last name on the back and a rainbow wristband. The 83-year-old then walked in front of the mound and tossed a pitch that Screech, the National...

US Army Corps revokes permit for Minnesota mine, cites threat to downstream tribe’s water standards

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday it has revoked a crucial federal permit for the proposed NewRange Copper Nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, a project popularly known as PolyMet, saying the permit did not comply with the water quality standards set by a sovereign downstream tribe.The Corps said in a statement that it revoked the Clean Water Act permit, which it had previously suspended, “because the permit does not ensure compliance with water quality requirements of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.” The tribe’s reservation, on the St. Louis River, is downstream from the mine and processing plant site near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes.“This is a huge victory,” said Paula Maccabee, an attorney for WaterLegacy, one of the environmental groups that have been fighting the proposed mine in court and in the regulatory process for several years. “It’s a victory for tribal sovereignty, it’s a victory for science, it’s a victory for the law....

Oak Brook PD seek public's help finding missing man with autism

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

OAK BROOK, Ill. — The Oak Brook Police Department is seeking the public's help finding a man who is non-verbal with autism that went missing early Tuesday evening.Anish Bajaj, 24, missing man with autism.Police said 24-year-old Anish Bajaj went missing shortly after 5 p.m. after walking out of the area near the 500 block of Sauk Path in Oak Brook.Bajaj is described as wearing a green shirt, blue jeans, socks and no shoes, and will not respond to his name if called.Oak Brook PD asks that if you see Bajaj, to please call 911 immediately.Police also said they have a heavy police presence in the area as they search for Bajaj.

Group says some clergy credibly accused of sex abuse in Illinois live without supervision

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

CHICAGO — Advocates, attorneys, and several survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of clergy members are calling for action and increased transparency by the Catholic church.“The real impact this has is, you have to look at life through a whole different lens. It’s not a fun one,” said Mike, a survivor who said he was sexually abused by a pastor of his parish in Berwyn decades ago when he was only 11.He believes what isn’t talked about enough when it comes to sexual assault, is the way it impacts how a survivor sees the world.“You learn to survive; you learn to thrive,” said Mike. “I’ve had a great life. It’s a perspective that’s a bit unusual.”On Tuesday, Mike joined others at a news conference prompted by a 700-page report released nearly two weeks ago by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. In it, 451 Catholic clergy members were named, who allegedly abused nearly 2,000 children across all six dioceses in Illinois. The abuse spanned decades, Raoul said. AG report fi...

"Your success is our success:" Chamber of Commerce offers warm welcome to Mayor Johnson

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:50:13 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce at their annual membership meeting Tuesday, receiving warm welcomes and open arms along the way."Your success is our success," said Jack Levin, President and CEO of the chamber.Johnson stood alongside Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, who discussed his party's nominating convention coming to Chicago next summer.To curb City violence, Mayor Johnson is calling for a major youth employment program with both the city and business community hiring more teens Mayor Johnson promises ‘more sophisticated, sharper response’ after weekend violence in Chicago "We have to love our young people enough to actually invest in them," Johnson said. "And that’s what my administration will do and we’re going to do it together with the business community."Not a topic of discussion during the meeting were various new taxes Johnson proposed on the campaign trail, or the fact that scores of business leaders ...