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Nebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster over trans bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It was a mundane, unanimously supported bill on liquor taxation that saw state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh take to the mic on the Nebraska Legislature floor last week. She offered her support, then spent the next three days discussing everything but the bill, including her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts and the plot of the animated movie “Madagascar.”She also spent that time railing against an unrelated bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for those 18 and younger. It was the advancement of that bill out of committee that led Cavanaugh to promise three weeks ago to filibuster every bill that comes before the Legislature this year — even the ones she supports.“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” the Omaha married mother of three said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”True to her word, Ca...

Iditarod co-founder’s grandson Ryan Redington wins dog race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Ryan Redington on Tuesday won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, bringing his six dogs off the Bering Sea ice to the finish line on Nome’s main street.Redington, 40, is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” He helped co-found the arduous race across Alaska that was first held in 1973.“My grandpa, dad and Uncle Joee are all in the Mushing Hall of Fame. I got big footsteps to follow,” Ryan Redington wrote in his race biography. He previously won the Junior Iditarod in 1999 and 2000. His father, Raymie, is a 10-time Iditarod finisher.Redington, who is Inupiat, becomes the sixth Alaska Native musher to win the world’s most famous sled dog race. The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race started March 5 in Willow for 33 mushers, who traveled over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and on the Bering Sea ice. Since then, three mushers have scratched. A fan-friendly ceremonial start was held in Anchorage the day before.I...

Quebec man charged with dangerous driving causing deaths of two pedestrians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

AMQUI, Que. — The driver of a pickup truck that killed two people and injured nine others in the Quebec town of Amqui was charged with dangerous driving causing death on Tuesday, after police said he drove into pedestrians chosen at random, including children.A small group of residents showed up to boo and heckle as 38-year-old Steeve Gagnon was led in handcuffs into the courthouse in Amqui, about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.Gagnon — a slim, bearded man wearing glasses and a grey T-shirt — did not speak in court. His lawyer, Hugo Caissy, said his client understood the two charges against him and asked the judge to waive the requirement that a bail hearing be held within three days.Crown prosecutor Simon Blanchette said more charges would undoubtedly follow once all the evidence is gathered.“The police investigation isn’t finished at the moment, and there’s a large number of witnesses who still need to be met, more information that needs to be collected,” he t...

Putin rejects theory about Ukrainian role in pipeline blasts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday dismissed as “sheer nonsense” allegations that Ukrainians could be behind the blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last year, and again pointed the finger at the U.S.Putin spoke after The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories last week citing unidentified U.S. and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukraine, or at least Ukrainians, may have been responsible. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper and German public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported that investigators believed five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. German federal prosecutors confirmed that a boat was searched in January but have not confirmed the reported findings.Putin rejected the notion as “sheer nonsense.” “Such an explosion, so powerful and at such depth, could only be conducte...

Florida advances bills on gender identity, defamation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republicans on Tuesday advanced a proposal to ban classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity through the eighth grade, expanding the controversial law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”The bill, which was approved by a House subcommittee, still must clear another committee before moving to the full House. A separate House subcommittee approved a bill that would make it easier to sue journalists for defamation, a priority for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who frequently criticizes what he calls “legacy media.”The education measure also would prohibit school staffers or students from being required to refer to people by pronouns that don’t correspond to the person’s sex. Florida came under intense national scrutiny last year over the so-called Don’t Say Gay law, which prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade. DeSantis has been a fierce defende...

Belarus rights group says scores detained in new clampdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

Rights advocates in Belarus sounded the alarm on Tuesday about a new heavy crackdown on dissent by the authoritarian government that saw over 100 people — including several psychologists and psychiatrists — detained in a week.Viasna, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent rights group, said mass arrests took place in the capital Minsk, as well as in the east and the west of the country. The authorities targeted opposition activists, journalists, medical workers, members of shooting sports clubs and people working with drones.Viasna’s Pavel Sapelka told The Associated Press that Belarus’ security forces are waging “sweeping raids and searches” on those suspected of involvement in a recent attack on a Russian warplane stationed near the Belarusian capital. “Guerillas” from the country’s opposition BYPOL movement claimed responsibility of the attack on a Beriev A-50 parked at the Machulishchy Air Base near Minsk. Russia used the territory of its ally Belarus to inva...

Canada at crossroads on submarines as cost, need butt heads and allies press ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is at a crossroads on replacing Canada’s aging submarines, as cost considerations butt up against warnings about the need for such vessels and allies press ahead with their own plans.The Royal Canadian Navy revealed in July 2021 that it had launched a long-anticipated push to replace the country’s four Victoria-class submarines, creating a special team to figure out exactly what the military needs in a new fleet.The move came amid growing concerns about the need to start working on such a project given the age of Canada’s existing fleet and estimates that it would take at least 15 years to design and build new vessels.Yet it also came absent a formal commitment from the Liberal government to build and operate a new submarine fleet after the Victoria-class vessels are retired in the mid-2030s — a commitment that still hasn’t been made nearly two years later.Defence Minister Anita Anand’s spokesman on Tuesday described subm...

Transport minister pledges to close passenger compensation loophole used by airlines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

MONTREAL — Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday the federal government will close a loophole that allows airlines to deny customers compensation for cancelled flights.The reform will come as part of an overhaul of passenger rights to be tabled in Parliament this spring, he said at a press conference.Asked whether he would end the exemption that lets carriers reject compensation claims by citing safety issues, Alghabra answered in the affirmative.“The short answer is yes. We are working on strengthening and clarifying the rules to ensure that we make a distinction,” he said.“Obviously we don’t want planes to fly when it’s unsafe to do so. But there are certain things that are within the control of the airlines, and we need to have clearer rules that puts the responsibility on the airlines when it’s their responsibility.”Alghabra’s pledge came during a press conference at Toronto’s Pearson airport Tuesday morning, where he...

Airline investigating after flight attendants allegedly fight over passenger's request, refuse to work with each other

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – SkyWest Airlines has launched an internal investigation into allegations that a recent flight from California to Texas was delayed following a spat between “petty” flight attendants.  The flight, operated by SkyWest for American Eagle, had boarded in Los Angeles and was scheduled to leave for Houston when one of the first-class passengers requested to switch seats with someone in coach so she could sit next to her husband, according to a passenger who filmed part of the incident. A male flight attendant told the passenger it was OK, but a female flight attendant quickly interjected and said it was against the carrier’s policy, she said.“They kept bickering and going back and forth in the middle of the aisle about the rules, and what was right and what was wrong,” said Ashley Brewer, an anchor and reporter with ESPN who claims she was seated beside the first-class passenger. “They just had some beef or something.”Brewer said the male flight attendant began yelling at...

Skilling: 'Pineapple Express' storm to bring wind, rain to Chicago Thursday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:40 GMT

The ATMOSPHERIC RIVER STORM sweeping California—the 11th such storm since Dec 22---will cross the Rockies, plug into Gulf moisture and bring Thursday afternoon and nighttime rains to Chicago amid strong southerly winds expected to begin boosting city temps tomorrow (Wednesday).An estimated 30-million California residents are being impacted by this 11th atmospheric river system to hit the state since Dec. 22. Forty of California's 58 counties are under a State of Emergency as the latest Pacific storm system sweeps in with drenching rains, high winds and, above 8,000 ft. 3 to 5 feet of additional snow. And from all indications, it won't be the last. Severe more are to hit in the the next week and a half. LEARN MORE: Satellite images show ‘Atmospheric River Storm’ drench California Ominously, the NWS Weather Prediction Center (WPC) assesses as a HIGH RISK the threat of flooding and notes that 40% of the country's flood fatalities have occurred in regions declared at HIGH RISK for exc...