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Maryland lawmakers reach deal on state budget

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lawmakers got passed their differences and reached a deal Friday on the state’s $62.5 billion budget that includes making major investments in prekindergarten through 12th grade education.In one major highlight, they agreed to allocate $900 million for future costs to the state’s huge pre-K-12 education funding reform law known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a priority by the legislature that phases in larger amounts of funding in future years.The differences between the General Assembly’s two chambers related to a proposal in Gov. Wes Moore’s initial budget plan. The governor first proposed allocating an additional $500 million for the blueprint, while setting aside $500 million for unspecified transportation projects.The House shifted $400 million of the transportation funds to add to future blueprint funding, bringing the total additional blueprint money to $900 million. The Senate brought that down to $800 mil...

DC-based ‘gifting’ dispensaries will be able to get medical cannabis licenses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

The legal purgatory that many D.C.-based marijuana “gifting” dispensaries live in will likely end thanks to a new law that took effect last week.The aim is to make it easier to get medical cannabis from a legal business that sells regulated products.More D.C. NewsMore Local NewsCurrently, well over 100 dispensaries will sell a sticker or T-shirt for $100 and then “gift” the customer an amount of cannabis that’s equivalent in value. It was a legal gray area, but now many of those companies are going to be able to get medical marijuana dispensary licenses.The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2021 went into effect on March 22. It eliminates caps on the number of medical dispensaries, allowing many of the “gifting” brick-and-mortar and delivery services to apply for medical marijuana licenses.It also expands the types of licenses that retailers could apply for, including internet retailer and a courier license of deliveries of marijuana as well as “safe-use facility endorsement” ...

Kyiv accuses Orthodox Church leader of justifying Russia’s invasion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

Ukrainian investigators are searching the home of Metropolitan Pavel Lebed, an Orthodox Church leader, who they accuse of justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inciting inter-religious hatred. Ukraine’s security service (SBU) confirmed on Saturday that Pavel, who runs Ukraine’s most important monastery, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, is suspected of violating the country’s criminal code. Pavel “in his public speeches repeatedly insulted the religious feelings of Ukrainians, humiliated the views of believers of other denominations and tried to form hostile sentiments towards them,” said the SBU, which also published what it alleges are phone intercepts from Pavel’s sermons. He also “made statements that justified or denied the actions of the aggressor country,” according to the service. “Today, the enemy is trying to use the church environment to promote its propaganda and split Ukrainian society,” the SBU’s hea...

German compromise on gas and oil heating includes key exemptions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

Germany’s ruling coalition on Friday evening reached a compromise on a controversial energy bill to ban the installation of new gas and oil-fired heating systems as of the start of next year, but the deal includes important exemptions and phase-in periods. According to the agreement, every newly installed heating system will have to be powered by 65 percent renewable energy starting January 1, 2024.The compromise contains a number of exemptions, introduces transition periods and includes dedicated financial support, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. The law will “bring about a mandatory switch to renewable heating,” Germany’s economy and construction ministries said. The coalition agreement on the details of the bill — which still needs to be submitted to the federal states for consultation and passed by the cabinet — comes after the government on Tuesday evening reached an agreement on its future climate policy following 30 hours of negotiations. Germany a...

Heat icon Dwyane Wade named to Hall of Fame Class of 2023, ‘This is basketball heaven’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

From the moment he walked off the court at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 10, 2019, with a career-ending triple-double, this moment Saturday in Houston at the NCAA Final Four was inevitable.Miami Heat icon Dwyane Wade has been unanimously selected as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, with enshrinement to follow on Aug. 12 in Springfield, Mass.“This,” Wade, 41, said Saturday, “is basketball heaven. To be able to end your career and say that you’re going to basketball heaven, that’s what movies are made of, that’s what books are written about.”It will be one of the most star-studded inductions in years, rivaling the bittersweet 2020 inductions of Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and, posthumously, Kobe Bryant.Announced as part of the Hall’s Class of 2023 along with Wade were fellow former NBA players Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, as well as San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and former WNBA star a...

Tornadoes kill at least 11 people across Midwest and the South, rips through Illinois music venue where Boston metal band among lineup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

Tornadoes that tore through parts of the South and Midwest killed at least 11 people, collapsed the roof of a packed theater during a heavy metal concert in Illinois that included the Boston band Revocation among the night’s lineup, and left small towns and big cities throughout the region bewildered Saturday by the damage.Possibly dozens of tornadoes touched down into the night across at least seven states, laying waste to homes and businesses and splintering trees, as part of a sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.Tens of thousands lost power as the storms smothered a swath of the country home to some 85 million people. The dead included four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, and three in Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi and the Little Rock area.Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, w...

Pat Leonard’s NFL Notes: A market for Lamar Jackson exists but may be untapped — for now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

A prominent NFL agent told the Daily News at the NFL owners’ meetings in Arizona that he believes Lamar Jackson could land the fully guaranteed contract he is seeking if he had proper representation.The agent acknowledged he was biased and was not saying this to lobby to represent Jackson himself. He was simply answering a question.But his read of the league was noteworthy: In his mind, a market exists for the former MVP even at his desired price; it’s just not being tapped into and leveraged properly.Look at Colts owner Jim Irsay’s comments this week as Exhibit A of the ground that an agent’s relationships and expertise might make up.Irsay told ESPN that “the money is not a problem” when considering a contract for Jackson, once acquired via trade. The owner only took issue with the assets he’d have to surrender in a trade with Baltimore, and he qualified to The Athletic: “I do not believe in fully-guaranteed contracts.”A person ...

Driver shot during robbery attempt; suspects have not been located

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man was shot by suspected robbers in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on Friday, authorities said.According to the San Diego Police Department, two individuals were sitting in a vehicle at 4800 Logan Ave. when three suspects, described by police as black men, walked up to the passenger side window and told the vehicle's occupants to "give them their stuff." Security cameras capture person vandalizing menorah outside SDSU Chabad House The driver of the vehicle, who police say is 21-years-old, reportedly put the car in reverse to get away from suspects. At that time, SDPD says one of the suspects shot at the car and hit the driver in the upper left leg.The driver, whose identity has not been released, was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.The suspects reportedly ran away into a nearby apartment complex and have not been located, according to SDPD. There is no further descriptions of the suspects who remain at large.The San Di...

Man charged with sexual assault against Peel paramedics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

A Brampton man has been charged after recurring contact with Peel paramedics that led to harassment and sexual assault.Peel police have reported that between April 2022 and February 2023, the suspect allegedly committed multiple inappropriate acts towards female first responders, including unwanted physical touching and offensive sexual comments to victims while paramedics were providing medical-related care.34-year-old Konstantin Golov of Brampton was arrested and charged with criminal harassment, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of mischief and uttering threats.“This troubling series of events and pattern of behaviour caused great concern for the members of Peel Paramedic Services and all of us at Peel Regional Police,” said deputy chief Marc Andrews in a statement.”“Those providing critical care to our community should feel safe at all times. This most recent arrest will help assure our first responder partners, and our community, that activities a...

2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:47 GMT

North American Committee — Dwayne Wade, player; Dirk Nowitzki, player; Tony Parker; player; Paul Gasol, player; Gene Bess, coach; David Hixon, coach; Gene Keady, coach; Gregg Popovich, coach.Women’s Committee — Becky Hammon, player; Gary Blair, coach.Direct Elect CommitteeWomen’s Veterans Direct Elect Committee — 1976 Women’s Olympic Basketball team.Direct Elect Contributor Committee — Jim Valvano, contributor The Assoicated Press, The Associated Press