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The woman who torched Wyoming’s lone, full-service abortion clinic is about to be sentenced

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A woman who says anxiety and nightmares led her to set fire to Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic, setting back the facility’s opening almost a year, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.Lorna Roxanne Green could be sentenced to 20 years in prison for burning the Wellspring Health Access facility in Casper. She pleaded guilty to a federal arson charge in July.Green said at that hearing she regretted what she did and took full responsibility.“I knew right after” setting fire to the clinic that it was wrong, she told U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson.The May 2022 fire happened weeks before the clinic was to open. Extensive damage to the building being remodeled for the clinic kept it from opening for almost a year.Green admitted to breaking in, pouring gasoline around the inside of the building and lighting it on fire, according to court documents.The Casper College mechanical engineering student showed no sign of anti-abortion views on...

Trump goes to Michigan to rail against Biden’s electric vehicle push while GOP rivals debate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — As his Republican rivals sparred onstage in California at their second primary debate, Donald Trump was in battleground Michigan Wednesday night working to win over blue-collar voters by lambasting President Joe Biden and his push for electric cars in the midst of an autoworkers’ strike.“I will not allow under any circumstances the American automobile industry to die,” Trump said at Drake Enterprises, a non-unionized auto parts supplier in Clinton Township, about a half-hour outside Detroit.The Republican front-runner’s trip came a day after Biden became the first sitting president in U.S. history to walk a picket line as he joined United Auto Workers in Detroit. The dueling appearances had the feel of the opening salvo of the 2024 general election, which increasingly looks like a rematch between Trump and Biden, even though primary voting won’t begin until next year.Trump’s decision to skip another debate comes as he maintains a commanding lead ...

Lotto 649 winning numbers for Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

TORONTO — The winning numbers in Wednesday’s Lotto 649 draw for an estimated $5 million: 09, 17, 25, 30, 38 & 48.Bonus: 35The winning number for the guaranteed $1 million: 50755138-03 In the event of any discrepancy between this list and the official winning numbers, the latter shall prevail.The Canadian Press

Taiwan launches the island’s first domestically made submarine for testing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president launched the island’s first domestically made submarine for testing Thursday at a port in Kaohsiung. The submarine, if successful in its tests, will be a major breakthrough for Taiwan in shipbuilding and design.“In the past, a domestic made submarine was considered impossible, but today a submarine designed and built by our countrymen is in front of you,” said President Tsai Ing-wen at the launch ceremony. “It is the concrete realization of our resolution to protect” Taiwan. The process was “torturous,” said Cheng Wen-lon, head of Taiwan’s CSBC Corporation, which led the constructions of the submarine. But its completion marks an important milestone in Taiwan’s strategy of adopting asymmetric warfare. “Although we have worked quietly the past several years, it doesn’t mean the process was very smooth,” he said at the ceremony held in CSBC’s shipyard. After years of construction and design, th...

At US Antarctic base hit by harassment claims, workers are banned from buying alcohol at bars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — From Sunday, workers at the main United States base in Antarctica will no longer be able to walk into a bar and order a beer, after the federal agency that oversees the research program decided to stop serving alcohol.McMurdo Station will not be going entirely dry, the National Science Foundation confirmed. Researchers and support staff will still be able to buy a weekly ration of alcohol from the station store. But the policy shift could prove significant because the bars have been central to social life in the isolated environment. The changes come as concerns grow that sexual misconduct has been allowed to flourish at McMurdo. An investigation by The Associated Press last month uncovered a pattern of women who said their claims of harassment or assault were minimized by their employers, often leading to them or others being put in further danger.In some of the cases outlined by the AP, alcohol played a role. But the NSF told the AP the changes invol...

A government shutdown is nearing this weekend. What does it mean, who’s hit and what’s next?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is just days away from a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands, force a confrontation over federal spending.While some government entities will be exempt — Social Security checks, for example, will still go out — other functions will be severely curtailed. Federal agencies will stop all actions deemed non-essential, and millions of federal employees, including members of the military, won’t receive paychecks.A look at what’s ahead if the government shuts down on Oct. 1.WHAT IS A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?A shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass some type of funding legislation that is signed into law by the president. Lawmakers are supposed to pass 12 different spending bills to fund agencies across the government, but the process is time-consuming. They often resort to passing a temporary extension, called a continuing resolution or CR...

NY Attorney General Letitia James has a long history of fighting Trump, other powerful targets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Letitia James fixated on Donald Trump as she campaigned for New York attorney general, branding the then-president a “con man” and ″carnival barker” and pledging to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”Five years later, James is on the verge of disrupting Trump’s real estate empire after a judge ruled Tuesday that he defrauded banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of assets on paperwork used for deals and securing loans.The ruling shifts control of some of Trump’s companies to a court-appointed receiver, meaning he could lose control of prized properties like Trump Tower, a sprawling suburban estate, office buildings and more.For James, a Democrat, it’s just the latest joust with a powerful foe.Here’s a look at her political background and some of her biggest cases:LAWSUITS AGAINST TRUMPJames began investigating Trump just about as soon as she took office as attorney general in 2019. She launched several lawsuit...

Biden making defending democracy a touchstone in his reelection campaign – and a rejoinder to Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — On the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, President Joe Biden stood in early 2022 at the literal epicenter of the insurrection and accused Donald Trump of continuing to hold a “dagger” at democracy’s throat. Biden closed out the summer that same year in the shadow of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, decrying Trumpism as a menace to democratic institutions.And that November, as voters were casting ballots in the midterm elections, Biden again sounded a clarion call to protect democratic institutions, warning that their underpinnings remained under threat. Biden on Thursday will make his fourth in a series of presidential addresses about the state of democracy, a cause that is a key motivator and a touchstone for him as he tries to remain in office even in the face of low approval ratings and widespread concern from voters about his age. The location for this speech, as was the case for the others, was deliberately chosen: It will be near Arizona State Unive...

House Republicans are set to make their case for Biden impeachment inquiry at first hearing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have insisted for months that they have the grounds to launch impeachment proceedings against President Joe Biden. On Thursday, they will begin formally making their case to the public and their skeptical colleagues in the Senate.The chairmen of Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means will hold the opening hearing of their impeachment inquiry by reviewing the constitutional and legal questions surrounding their investigation of Biden and what they say are links to his son Hunter’s overseas businesses. “Based on the evidence, Congress has a duty to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden’s corruption,” Rep. James Comer, the Oversight chairman, said in a statement this week.Comer added that the committee plans to “present evidence uncovered to date and hear from legal and financial experts about crimes the Bidens may have committed as they brought in millions at the expense of U.S. interests.”It’s a high-stakes opening act for Republicans ...

TikTok says it regrets Indonesia’s decision to to ban e-commerce sales on social media platforms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:24 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Chinese-owned app TikTok on Thursday said it regretted the Indonesian government’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, particularly the impact it would have on the millions of sellers who use TikTok Shop.But TikTok Indonesia said in a statement they will respect the regulations and laws that apply in Indonesia and “will take a constructive path forward.”“We deeply regret the government’s announcement, especially how it will impact the livelihoods of the six million sellers and nearly seven million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop,” said the statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday.Indonesia banned goods transactions on social media platforms such as TikTok in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing them of predatory pricing. Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Monday announced the decision after a meeting with President Joko Widodo. The ban ”is to prevent the domin...