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House Republicans push asylum restrictions, border security

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.But so far, they have failed to unify behind a plan, delaying efforts to pass legislation.Now they are hoping to change that. Republicans on Wednesday jump-started work on an immigration and border enforcement package that would remake immigration law to make it more difficult to apply for asylum and easier for the federal government to stop migrants from entering the U.S. It combines proposals from a number of conservative hardliners into a single bill.The undertaking comes as Washington is putting renewed focus on border security, and the plight of thousands of migrants who show up seeking entry into the U.S., with a looming May deadline that is expected to end a federal COVID-era asylum policy. The hearing al...

Body recovered from rubble of collapsed NYC parking garage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Crews used cranes to pluck cars, one by one, from the rubble of a New York City parking garage Wednesday as building inspectors sought to pinpoint a cause for the century-old structure’s deadly collapse. A body was recovered from the rubble.Workers searched for a garage worker presumed dead under tons of concrete and crumpled vehicles. Late Wednesday, the Fire Department said it had recovered a body and turned it over to the city’s chief medical examiner’s office. The identity of the victim was not immediately released, and it wasn’t immediately known if it was that of the missing garage worker. “Right now we’re transitioning to how we safely take down that building,” Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said at a news conference, a day after the multilevel parking lot collapsed just as a stream of customers were returning from work to retrieve their cars.It was a delicate operation to remove as many as 90 vehicles scattered on the str...

Hawaii cites 2 for feeding feral cats, harming native geese

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — State authorities have cited two women for allegedly harming nene — an endangered species of geese native to Hawaii — by feeding feral cats in a Big Island shopping center parking lot.The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said it issued the citations on Tuesday while about 50 people were protesting a decision by the shopping center’s owner to remove three cat-feeding stations. Some protesters were carrying large bags of cat food, the department said in a news release.The nene geese are listed as an endangered species under Hawaii state law and a threatened species under U.S. law. Stray cats have no predators in Hawaii, and their numbers have ballooned. Marketing research commissioned by the Hawaiian Humane Society in 2015 estimated Oahu alone had 300,000 feral cats.The department earlier this month sent a letter to Alexander & Baldwin, the owner of Queens’ Marketplace Shopping Center, saying nene had been observed eating food from the fee...

Minnesota Gov. Walz draws sharp contrasts with red states

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz drew stark contrasts between Minnesota and Republican-led states Wednesday night, using his State of the State speech to highlight how he and his fellow Democrats have used their new control over state government to push through an ambitious liberal agenda.Walz, now three months into his second term, told lawmakers and other dignitaries in the House chamber how Minnesota Democrats are bucking the backlash seen in red states across the country against abortion rights, trans rights, pushes for racial equity and other cultural flashpoints.“I’ve seen some of these other governors on TV — they spend a lot of time on TV — and they’re always talking about ‘freedom,’” Walz said in his prepared remarks. “But it turns out what they mean is that government should be free to invade your bedroom, your children’s locker room, and your doctor’s office.”Walz didn’t name Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or other GOP leaders who’ve gained national follo...

B.C. First Nation sues port firm, others for disrupting ancestral remains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

VANCOUVER — A First Nation is suing the British Columbia and federal governments and the company behind a railway terminal port in the province’s Interior, claiming it wasn’t property consulted about the project it says has “desecrated” its ancestral territory. Bonaparte First Nation Chief Frank Antoine said inland port development by Ashcroft Terminal Ltd. over the First Nations’ ancestral remains continues unabated with the support of the federal and provincial government. The nation filed a lawsuit Wednesday, saying it has been wrongfully misled and shut out of the development process. In June 2021, Antoine said members of the Bonaparte staged a sit-in protest on the site of Ashcroft Terminal’s inland port, where expansion activities unearthed ancestral remains and other culturally significant artifacts. “They just put it in a box, put it in a trailer and left it there until our membership decided to say enough is enough,” Antoine s...

Costa Rica president promises more police, tougher laws

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — President Rodrigo Chaves promised Wednesday to put more police in the streets and demanded changes in Costa Rica’s laws to confront record-setting numbers of homicides that have shaken daily life in a country long known for peaceful stability.Choosing to make his speech in the plaza in front of the country’s Congress, Chaves said too many violent criminals are allowed to walk free and called for more flexibility to extradite Costa Ricans to countries where they are wanted for drug trafficking crimes.Costa Rica recorded 657 homicides last year, the majority blamed on violence related to drug trafficking. The country has moved on from just being a passthrough for drugs moving from South America to the United States. It has become an important hub for drugs being shipped to the U.S. and Europe and there is also a growing domestic drug market.“I want people to be able to walk peacefully in the street, that kids go to the park safely, that children go to...

Illinois middle school wrestler sucker-punched by opponent after loss in viral video

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

SANDWICH, Ill. — An Illinois middle school wrestler is speaking out after a widely-shared video shows him getting punched by his opponent after a match.Jillian Hill’s 14-year-old son Cooper is a two-time state wrestling champion, competing in the 125-128-pound division. On April 8, Cooper competed in the Beat the Streets tournament at Oak Park High School with his team out of Spar Academy in Aurora. "He had won the match by tech-fall and when they came to the circle, Cooper extended his hand to shake his hand," Hill told WGN News. "That’s when the assault happened." Downtown beating witness: ‘They were going to kill that young man’ The video shows Cooper, in an orange singlet, shaking his competitor's hand just seconds before the Maine West student punches him in the face. Cooper immediately fell to the ground."I remember there was this stinging in my face. I balled up and I checked for blood. I looked up to see my stepdad and mom checking me," Cooper told WGN News."Coop...

Frank Ocean steps away from second Coachella set after leg injury: reports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) -- Frank Ocean will not be returning to perform at the second weekend of Coachella after fracturing his leg on the grounds of the festival, according to multiple outlets.This comes after fans expressed disappointment on social media over the singer’s performance during the festival's first weekend in Indio.In a statement to Variety and TMZ, a representative for Ocean said the singer suffered a leg injury on festival grounds leading up to the first weekend of Coachella. Because of that, he was "unable to perform the intended show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity."The injury has also sidelined him for what was set to be his second live performance in nearly six years. Ocean has two fractures and a sprain in his left leg, his representative said Wednesday.Ocean was the headliner on Sunday night but his set was an hour late and appeared to come to an abrupt end. It sparked criticism from festivalgoers who quickl...

Safety concerns about encampments near Montessori school in south Austin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A nearby incident put Mariposa Montessori, near Brodie Lane and William Cannon Drive, on a brief lockdown Monday.While the school said the incident was isolated - and involved a man firing a gun inside his home - it still put school leaders and parents on edge. Montessori school reports man arrested after break-in Leslie Harrington, head of school for Mariposa Montessori, said Monday's lockdown highlights a bigger problem. "In the last few years we've just seen an uptick in crime in this area," she said. In December, police arrested a man for breaking into the school early one morning. The school has since hired a security guard."We're also looking at a bulletproof film that we're going to put on all the windows. We plan on hiring a company to come in and do a security assessment. We're adding new fencing around the perimeter of the school," said Harrington.Harrington has met with District 5 Council Member Ryan Alter about these concerns. "They've had to deal with...

Texas House advances bill that aims to keep sexually explicit materials out of school libraries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:38:57 GMT

(Texas Tribune) — The Texas House gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that aims to ban sexually explicit materials from school libraries. But legal experts, librarians and some parents are concerned that the bill’s language is vague and broad enough to ensnare books that are not inappropriate.Under House Bill 900 — a priority for House Speaker Dade Phelan — sexually explicit books would be taken off shelves, and some books with sexual references would require parental consent. It passed in the House in a 95-53 initial vote Wednesday. The bill still needs to get final approval from the House before it makes its way to the Senate.If HB 900 passes, book vendors would have to assign ratings to books based on the presence of depictions or references to sex. A book would be considered "sexually relevant" if the material describes or portrays sexual activity and is part of required school curriculum. A book would be considered “sexually explicit” if the material describing or portray...