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Rachael Rollins used ‘poor judgment’ when she attended DNC fundraiser; Senator proposes Hatch Act enforcement legislation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’ surprising decision to attend a political fundraiser last year was a mistake and showed “poor judgment” but it was not a capital offense, a constitutional expert told the Herald on Tuesday after news broke that Rollins is stepping down.Meanwhile, a U.S. senator on Tuesday proposed a bill to increase enforcement of the Hatch Act — the act that Rollins possibly violated when she attended the Democratic National Committee fundraiser with First Lady Jill Biden in Andover.The Hatch Act is meant to ensure that federal officials remain non-political, but federal officials are still committing violations, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan said when announcing the legislation.Senate-confirmed Department of Justice appointees are allowed to engage in political activity, but they have to abide by certain guidelines under the Hatch Act.“All prosecutors are told that they should not be involved in any partisan activities,” attorney H...

Major League Soccer expected to announce San Diego expansion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- After months of speculation, it appears to be happening: Major League Soccer is expected to announce San Diego as the site for its new expansion team on Thursday.The announcement is believed to be coming during a news conference Thursday morning at Snapdragon Stadium -- the prospective home of the league's 30th franchise -- with the MLS commissioner, members from the team's ownership group and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. Padres pitcher Michael Wacha loses no-hitter in 8th against Royals In a release to local media, the nature of the conference was to "make a significant announcement about the future of soccer in San Diego."The expansion franchise would begin play in February 2025 at the 35,000-capacity Mission Valley stadium, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. The new team's ownership group will be led by the local Sycuan band of the Kumeyaay Nation, as well as the London-based Mansour Group. With over a year until the team's opening draft, details about what the ...

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to face Republican Daniel Cameron in November

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Daniel Cameron won the Republican primary for Kentucky governor on Tuesday, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state’s history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear.Cameron, the state’s attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, emerged victorious from a 12-candidate field that included Kelly Craft, who served as United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration, and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Beshear easily dispatched two under-the-radar Democratic challengers in his own primary.Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, would be the state’s first Black governor if elected.The race now shifts to the general election, which will be one of November’s most closely watched contests and could provide clues heading into next year’s presidential race. Beshear, a popular Democratic governor, will face a tough reelection bid in a R...

New Washington law keeps drugs illegal, boosts resources for housing and treatment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington lawmakers approved and Gov. Jay Inslee quickly signed a major new drug policy Tuesday that keeps controlled substances illegal while boosting resources to help those struggling with addiction.A compromise reached a day earlier by Democratic and Republican leaders sought to bridge a gap between liberals who believe drugs should be decriminalized and conservatives who insist the threat of jail is necessary to force people into treatment.The law retains criminal penalties for drug possession, making it a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for the first two offenses and up to a year after that. But police and prosecutors would be encouraged to divert cases for treatment or other services, and the measure provides millions of additional dollars for diversion programs and to provide short-term housing for people with substance- use disorders.The Senate voted 43-6 in favor; the House 83-13 in favor. Lawmakers said the bill struck a bal...

Missouri terminates emergency rule to limit trans care for minors, some adults

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri officials terminated the Republican attorney general’s emergency rule that would have placed limits on transgender care for minors and some adults.The move was announced Tuesday without explanation on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website. The website says: “This emergency rule terminated effective May 16, 2023.”The rule would have required adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatments such as puberty blockers, hormones and surgery.Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.Margaret Stafford, The Associated Press

‘Evil is not going to win,’ survivor of Texas mall shooting says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Irvin Walker was looking for a parking place after dropping his girlfriend off at a Dallas-area mall just over a week ago when he felt the gunfire.The 46-year-old from Lafayette, Louisiana, who was hit with bullet fragments in his head, chest, neck and arm, spoke Tuesday at Medical City McKinney in Texas about his recovery from the May 6 shooting at Allen Premium Outlets, where eight people were killed.He said he’s drawn strength from his faith, family, friends and the hospital staff.“I think this event was just evidence of evil not winning,” Walker said, sitting in a wheelchair during a news conference, wounds visible on his arm. “The power of God just showed brightly and gave me an opportunity to fight through this process, and evil is not going to win.”Hundreds of shoppers were sent scrambling for cover when a gunman stepped out of a sedan and began shooting people, cars and glass storefronts at the mall in Allen, a multicultural suburb of 105,000 loc...

More than a dozen people rescued from apartment fire in downtown Portland, Oregon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Firefighters rescued over a dozen people and at least two dogs from a dramatic apartment building fire Tuesday in downtown Portland, Oregon.Portland Fire & Rescue tweeted about 10:45 a.m. that they had responded to the blaze and shortly after said rescues were underway. Fire officials said before noon that firefighters had been for a time told to pull back because of the fire’s growth. Crews then did one of several checks to make sure all the firefighters were accounted for, officials said.Rick Graves, spokesman for the department, told The Oregonian/OregonLive later Tuesday that the department was confident everyone got out of the building, which had about 50 units and was built in 1910.Photos and video posted by the fire agency showed black smoke pouring out of the four-story building and firefighters helping residents and even a dog down ladders to safety.Several times, windows exploded as the fire ripped through the structure. Authorities were concerned...

Hundreds of B.C. firefighters dig in for Fort St. John battle amid weather reprieve

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Hundreds of firefighters are taking advantage of a weather break to prepare for a potential worsening of conditions near the wildfire-threatened city of Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia, as the community of 21,000 remains on evacuation alert.Hannah Swift, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said 400 fire personnel, 22 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 helicopters were in the vicinity of four blazes close to the city.“We have more resources arriving by the hour,” she told a news briefing. She said a break in the weather, in which winds dropped and shifted direction, had been “a bit of a reprieve” for Fort St. John and crews had used the opportunity to reassess and position themselves ahead of a warm front.That new weather change, bringing hotter conditions and a potentially problematic wind shift, could arrive as soon as Wednesday evening, she said. The calmer winds Tuesday had helped crews hold off the wildf...

Vaccine authorized for emergency use in California condors amid bird flu outbreak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California condors will receive a vaccine for a deadly strain of avian influenza that threatens to wipe out the already critically endangered vulture species, federal officials said Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service granted emergency approval for use of the vaccine after more than a dozen condors recently died from the bird flu, known as H5N1. There are fewer than 350 California condors in the wild, in flocks that span from the Pacific Northwest to Baja California, Mexico. A pilot safety study will begin this month in North American vultures, a similar species, allowing investigators to check for any adverse effects before they give vaccines to the endangered condors, according to an agriculture department statement.The department approved the emergency vaccination “because these birds are critically endangered, closely monitored, and their population is very small which allows close monitoring of the vaccine,...

Lawmakers warn leaky, crumbling UK Parliament at risk of ‘catastrophic’ event

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:47 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Parliament building is an architectural masterpiece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by 1 million people a year. It’s also a crumbling, leaky, asbestos-riddled building at “real and rising” risk of destruction, lawmakers said Wednesday.In a hair-raising report, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said the seat of British democracy is “leaking, dropping masonry and at constant risk of fire,” as well as riddled with asbestos.“There is a real and rising risk that a catastrophic event will destroy” the building before long-delayed restoration work is done, the committee said.In the most urgent in a series of warnings stretching back years, the committee said renewal work had been painfully slow and mostly amounted to “patching up” the 19th-century building, at a cost of about 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) a week.The committee slammed “years of procrastination” over the building’s future. In 2018, after years of dithering, lawmakers voted t...