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4 elections offices in Washington are evacuated due to suspicious envelopes, 2 containing fentanyl

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Four county elections offices in Washington state were evacuated Wednesday after they received envelopes containing suspicious powders — including two that field-tested positive for fentanyl — while workers were processing ballots from Tuesday’s election.The elections offices were located in King County — home of Seattle — as well as Skagit, Spokane and Pierce counties, the Secretary of State’s Office said in emailed news release. Local, state and federal agents were investigating, and no one was injured, officials said. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs called the incidents “acts of terrorism to threaten our elections.”“These incidents underscore the critical need for stronger protections for all election workers,” he said.Renton police detective Robert Onishi confirmed that an envelope received by workers at a King County elections office field-tested positive for fentanyl, while Spokane Police Department spokesperson Julie Humphreys said fentanyl was found in an...

Woman charged with threatening federal judge in abortion pill case arrested in Florida

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A woman accused of threatening to kill a federal judge in Texas who suspended approval of the abortion drug mifepristone earlier this year was arrested Wednesday in Florida, court records.Alice Marie Pence made her initial appearance in Fort Myers federal court after her arrest, according to court records. She faces charges of transmitting a threatening interstate communication and influencing a federal official by threat. Her next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 22 in Dallas federal court.Court records didn’t list an attorney for Pence.According to an indictment, Pence called the chambers of a federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, in March and threatened to kill him. The indictment doesn’t name the judge, but the only federal judge in Amarillo is U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.In April, Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific a...

Los Angeles coroner’s investigator accused of stealing a crucifix from around the neck of a dead man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a gold chain and crucifix from around the neck of a dead man, prosecutors said Wednesday. The suspect, a 34-year-old man, faces one felony count of grand theft and one misdemeanor count of petty theft, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.While responding to the heart-attack death of a warehouse worker last January, the investigator was recorded on surveillance video removing the crucifix necklace from the body and placing it in his medical bag, the statement said. He did not return the item or document it as required in a property receipt.In addition, when authorities searched the suspect’s desk, they found antique coins with a receipt in the name of a man who died in November 2022. The suspect, employed by the Medical Examiner’s Office since 2018, had handled the man’s death investigation.District Attorney George Gascón said the allegations repr...

Michigan responds to Big Ten, saying commissioner doesn’t have discipline authority, AP source says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan warned Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti about overstepping his authority and rushing to judgment, insisting Wednesday that he cannot discipline coach Jim Harbaugh under the conference’s sportsmanship policy for an alleged sign-stealing scheme that has rocked college football.Parts of the blistering 10-page letter sent to Petitti was shared with The Associated Press by a person who has seen it and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by the school to disclose its contents.The letter is Michigan’s response to the Big Ten’s notification of potential discipline of Harbaugh’s undefeated second-ranked team, which is among the favorites to win the national championship.Yahoo Sports first reported the contents of Michigan’s response.Michigan’s letter said the Big Ten cannot take action if a formal decision has not been made about whether rules were violated, the person said. The school also say...

Hawaii governor announces $150M fund for Maui wildfire victims modeled after 9/11 fund

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday announced the creation of a $150 million fund to help those who lost family members or who were injured in Maui’s wildfires. Beneficiaries will receive payments of more than $1 million as early as April to June of next year, the governor’s office said in a news release. Those getting money from the fund will waive their right to file legal claims.The fund aims to enable swift and generous financial payments for losses without requiring people to go through time-consuming litigation, the release said. It also aims to finance the rebuilding of Lahaina in a manner “that embodies Hawaii’s values and traditions.” Initial money for the fund is being provided by the state, Maui County, Hawaiian Electric and Kamehameha Schools, which is a major landowner in the Lahaina area. All four have been named in lawsuits over the wildfires. Green said he expects more partners to join the initiative. The fund is modeled on the Septe...

Costa Rica’s $6 million National Bank heist was an inside job, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Little by little an employee of Costa Rica’s National Bank took advantage of a surveillance blindspot to slip more than $6 million worth of currency into envelopes and casually walk out of the country’s largest bank, authorities said Wednesday.First announced last month, it was the largest bank heist in the country’s history. Police carried out 11 raids and arrested eight bank officials Wednesday.The 3.3 billion colon (US$6.1 million) robbery that apparently went unnoticed and unreported for weeks caused much finger-pointing in the Central American nation.There were no lack of distressing details.For example, while one employee, a treasurer, took the cash out of the bank, several others allegedly covered it up. Authorities are still trying to determine if they were in on the robbery or just didn’t want to take the blame when it was discovered the money was missing.Also, the last physical accounting of the bank’s cash was made in 2019. And investigators ar...

Veteran living her authentic self as pastor, author, LGBTQ advocate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

CHICAGO — Pamela Lightsey’s worn many hats in her life: Sister, mother, wife, and soldier — all of it before she discovered herself in her 30s.Lightsey, the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Meadville Lombard Theological School in downtown Chicago, is writing her third book, drawing on her intersectionality of being a black woman, a Christian minister, a mother, a queer lesbian who lived in the closet for years and a U.S. Army Veteran.She enlisted in the late 1970s as a private in the signal corps.“The military really gave me a sense of my capacity to do things as human being. as a human being,” she said. “Not ‘Oh you do that well as a woman.’ No. Soldier. ‘Soldier you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that.’”She got out of the military when she was pregnant with her first child and began working for the U.S. government as a civilian. More: Veterans Voices She saw the world and in that time, she began to see herself.“Being all the things, a wife, a civil serv...

Future of tax credit scholarship program uncertain amid Illinois veto session

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Last minute talks continued in Springfield on Thursday as pressure from lobbyists, interest groups, and citizens during an uneventful veto session.Union child care and home care workers convened in Springfield on Wednesday demanding a raise and better retirement benefits. Also on hand, supporters of a private school scholarship program set to sunset at the end of the year."My son, Wyatt went from low grades not loving school, crying, not asking to go to school," Stacy Moore said. "The Invest in Kids Scholarship gave me the choice to put my son in private school at Christian Life School and a smaller school setting, he’s now getting A’s and B’s and we’re now talking about college."The 5-year-old scholarship program encourages private donors to fund scholarships for low-income children. Individuals and businesses who contribute get a tax credit equal to 75% of their donation. Illinois Senate approves plan to allow new nuclear reactors Roughly 10,000 students ben...

One injured after plant explosion in Texas, residents forced to take shelter for hours

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

SHEPHERD, Texas (KIAH) — A massive fire at a chemical plant in rural Texas on Wednesday sent a plume of black smoke into the sky as officials closed down a local highway and ordered residents to take shelter.Multiple explosions were reported in Shepherd, Texas, starting with one at a chemical plant on FM 1127 Wednesday morning, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.Nineteen employees were at the plant, identified as Sound Resource Solutions, at the time of the explosion. Reports initially said several were injured, but authorities have clarified that just one employee experienced minor burns and was taken to a local hospital. Sound Resource Solutions recycles and repackages various chemicals. The owner of the plant said the explosion was caused by an accident involving a forklift, and was under investigation. ‘It was hell’: Marine says Hertz falsely accused him of stealing rental car, leading to arrest, jail San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said initial reports...

Williamson County sees some confusion from voters on election day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:25 GMT

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Williamson County's elections administrator says this week's election came with the same familiar speedbumps she sees during most elections.Judith Ritchie, elections administrator, said elections ran smoothly for the most part on Tuesday. Some of the county's more heavily foot-trafficked polling sites, like those in grocery stores, had the typical line of locals waiting to cast their ballots.As voting districts between counties become muddied as they grow closer together, Ritchie said poll workers also encountered voters registered in other counties that needed to be redirected."Every election, there are one or two folks that come into Williamson, and we have to say, 'No, you have to vote in Travis.' So now they have to travel that way. We always, always emphasize to our voters to make a plan," Ritchie said.Anna Silverwolfe of Hutto was not among those able to cast their ballots on election day.Silverwolfe said she went to her typical polling place ...