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President Joe Biden to host Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House Nov. 13

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, for a meeting at the White House on Nov. 13.The two leaders will discuss, among other issues, continuing the clean energy transition, advancing economic prosperity, and promoting peace and stability in the region, the White House said Tuesday.Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Biden will “reaffirm the United States’ commitment to deepening our nearly 75-year-long partnership between the world’s second and third largest democracies.”The meeting with Widodo at the White House comes just before Biden travels to San Francisco later in the week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Biden and Widodo also spoke at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi in September.Biden was in Indonesia last November, when the country hosted that year’s G-20 summit. The Associated Press

Loblaw raises the affordability alarm as grocery code of conduct nears completion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

As the grocery code of conduct nears completion, the Canadian industry’s biggest player is raising concerns the guidelines could add fuel to the food inflation fire.Loblaw Companies Ltd. said it’s worried the code could “raise food prices for Canadians by more than $1 billion” in a letter sent to members of both the steering committee developing the code and the industry sub-committee on Nov. 1, and obtained by The Canadian Press. The grocer cannot endorse the code in its current form, wrote chief financial officer Richard Dufresne in the letter, requesting a special meeting of the industry sub-committee to address Loblaw’s concerns.In a statement, Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said the draft code has “a number of challenges,” which the grocer believes could risk product availability and increasing food prices. The Loblaw statement also mentioned the potential “$1 billion in costs,” which Thomas said refers to extra costs for Lob...

House advances effort to censure Rashida Tlaib over her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is headed for a showdown vote Wednesday on whether to punish Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — the only Palestinian American in Congress — for her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.A vote on whether to censure Tlaib, a punishment one step below expulsion from the House, advanced Tuesday in a procedural vote. Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia proposed the censure resolution in response to what he calls Tlaib’s promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. “It’s a shame my colleagues are more focused on silencing me than they are on saving lives, as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000,” Tlaib said in a statement. “Many of them have shown me that Palestinian lives simply do not matter to them, but I still do not police their rhetoric or actions.” The censure push sets the stage for a dramatic vote on the House floor amid the political tensions over the ongoing, deadly Israel-Hamas war. While the majority of both parties have historically s...

Voting machines in one Pennsylvania county flip votes for judges, an error to be fixed in tabulation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

A coding error in an eastern Pennsylvania county caused votes to be flipped on a ballot question that asked whether a pair of incumbent state appeals judges should be retained, officials said Tuesday.Voters were asked to decide whether Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile should be retained for additional 10-year terms. The “yes” or “no” votes for each judge were being switched because of the error, said Lamont McClure, the Northampton County executive. If a voter marked “yes” to retain Panella and “no” on Stabile, for example, it was reflected as “no” on Panella and “yes” on Stabile.McClure said voters first noticed the error on the printed voting records produced by the touchscreen machines.The issue affected all the county’s voting machines in use Tuesday, which McClure estimated at more than 300. The Pennsylvania Department of State said the problem was isolated to the two retention votes in Northampton County and that no other races statewide were ...

Wisconsin GOP leader downplays pressure to impeach state election administrator

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly leader on Tuesday downplayed pressure he’s receiving from former President Donald Trump and fellow GOP lawmakers to impeach the state’s nonpartisan elections administrator, saying such a vote is “unlikely” to happen.Some Republicans have been trying to oust state elections administrator Meagan Wolfe, who was in her position during the 2020 election narrowly lost by Trump in Wisconsin. The Senate voted last month to fire Wolfe but later admitted the vote was symbolic and had no legal effect.Five Assembly Republicans in September introduced 15 articles of impeachment targeting Wolfe, a move that could result in her removal from office if the Assembly passed it and the Senate voted to convict. The Republican president of the Senate has also called on Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to proceed with impeachment.A group led by election conspiracy theorists launched a six-figure television advertising campaign last month thr...

Lawsuit alleges ‘widespread’ abuse at shuttered youth facility operated by man commuted by Trump

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Eight former residents of a youth treatment center that was run by an Arkansas man whose bribery conviction was commuted by former President Donald Trump have filed a lawsuit claiming they were victims of “systematic and widespread” abuse at the now-shuttered facility.Attorneys for the former residents of the Lord’s Ranch said the lawsuit is the first of several to be filed in the coming weeks alleging abuse at the facility that closed in 2016 after owner Ted Suhl was convicted in a federal bribery scheme. Suhl’s conviction was commuted by Trump in 2019.“Men and women who owned, operated, and staffed the facility preyed on and abused the children housed on the remote facility in Warm Springs, Arkansas routinely and systematically,” the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court said.The lawsuit against Suhl and others claims the unnamed residents were victims of repeated sexual abuse and rape by an employee of the facility, describing the abuse in gra...

Nashville police chief confirms authenticity of leaked Covenant school shooter’s writings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville Police Chief John Drake says he’s “disturbed” over the unauthorized release of writings from the shooter who killed six people, including three children, at The Covenant School in March.Drake confirmed the authenticity of the writings in a statement late Monday evening. “This police department is extremely serious about the investigation to identify the person responsible,” Drake said.Earlier Monday, conservative commentator Steven Crowder released what he said were three images of Audrey Hale’s writings from the day of the March 27 shooting. The news quickly sparked calls for an investigation as local and state leaders initially declined to verify the authenticity of the writings. Meanwhile, Metro Nashville Police Department has stated that the photos were not “crime scene images.” The fight over the release of Hale’s writing has remained a long, drawn out battle for months. Ever since it was discovered that Hale, who was assigned...

A Utah woman who had leg amputated after dog attack has died, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (AP) — A 63-year-old Utah woman who had a leg amputated after being attacked by her son’s dogs in her yard in a Salt Lake City suburb last week has died.The woman, whose name has not been released, died Monday, Taylorsville Police Lt. J. Fowler said Tuesday.The woman called 911 on Oct. 31. Responding officers found her in her yard still surrounded by the adult male and female pit bulls and their five puppies.Officers used pepper spray to drive them away so they could get over the fence, according to police. The adult female dog then broke loose and police shot it, officers said. The remaining dogs were surrendered by the owner.The Associated Press

Nevada judge tosses teachers union-backed petition to put A’s stadium funding on 2024 ballot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada judge threw out a proposed ballot referendum backed by a statewide teachers union that would give voters the final say on whether to give $380 million in public funding for a proposed $1.5 billion Oakland Athletics stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.The Monday ruling from Carson City District Court Judge James Russell sided with two lobbyists affiliated with trade unions that favor the public financing for the A’s stadium. Russell sent the teachers union-backed Schools over Stadiums political action committee back to the drawing board in their attempts to thwart the public funding that the state Legislature approved this year.In an interview Tuesday, Schools over Stadiums spokesperson Alexander Marks said the organization’s leadership will likely both appeal the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court and refile the referendum petition.“While the decision is disappointing, it’s not uncommon. Educators overcome obstacles every day, especially in...

'Get the **** away from me': Man accused of groping woman shopping in Northwest Indiana Walmart

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:47 GMT

PORTAGE, Ill. — A man was charged after allegedly sexually battering a woman shopping at a Northwest Indiana Walmart.Just after 2 p.m. on Saturday, Portage officers were dispatched to the Walmart, located in the 6000 block of US Route 6, on the report of a woman being sexually assaulted inside the store.A woman told police she was in an aisle buying windshield wipers when a man, later identified as James Lunsford, 42, of West Virginia, allegedly grabbed her and her breast."Get the (expletive) away from me!" the woman told Lunsford during the incident, according to police documents.Surveillance footage provided by store employees showed Lunsford allegedly walking up to the woman and grabbing her from the rear, pulling her into his body, according to police. Group accused of stealing, selling $2M worth of scrap intended for Northwest Indiana steel mill Police allege that Lunsford changed his jacket and shoes he was wearing in the parking lot prior to being arrested.He was charged wi...