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The number of people missing following devastating Maui wildfires has dropped to 66, governor says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — One month after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century leveled the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Friday that the number of missing has dropped to 66, the confirmed death toll remains at 115 and authorities will soon escort residents on visits to their property.Tens of millions of dollars in aid will make its way to families and businesses as they recover, Green said, and beginning Oct. 8, travel restrictions will end and West Maui will reopen to visitors. “If we support Maui’s economy and keep our people employed, they will heal faster and continue to afford to live on Maui,” Green said.Donations from around the world have poured in to the American Red Cross, the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Maui United Way and other organizations, Green said, and he has authorized $100 million from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program “to support what others donate, magnifying the power of their generosity.”The governmen...

Trump Organization offloads Bronx golf course to casino company with New York City aspirations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump Organization has sold its right to operate a public golf course in the Bronx, city officials confirmed, offloading control of the publicly-owned property to a company that is seeking to build a casino in New York City.Bally’s Corporation, a gaming and entertainment company, will take over the job of running the 18-hole course, known as Trump Golf Links Ferry Point, according to a spokesperson for the city’s comptroller. The terms of the lease transfer were not immediately available.The deal appeared to mark a resolution in the city’s battle to rid the course of its association with the former president, whose bold-faced name has for years greeted drivers passing the course on the Whitestone Bridge.Following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would scrap the contract with the Trump Organization, claiming that Trump’s incitement of rioters gave the city legal authority to do so.That argument was rejected by a state...

Cleveland Orchestra conductor has cancerous tumor removed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst had a cancerous tumor removed and has canceled his conducting performances from late October through the end of the year.The orchestra said he will undergo treatment between conducting engagements for 12 to 16 months.“His doctors are confident of a full recovery,” the orchestra said in a statement Thursday.The 62-year-old Austrian has been Cleveland’s music director since the 2002-03 season, when he succeeded Christoph von Dohnányi.Welser-Möst, a three-time Grammy Award nominee, withdrew in July from a new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Salzburg Festival just three weeks before opening night. He remains scheduled to conduct the Cleveland Orchestra’s opening performances of the season starting Sept. 28.The Associated Press

New Mexico governor issues order to suspend open and concealed carry of guns in Albuquerque

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency public health order that suspends the open and permitted concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days in the midst of a spate of gun violence. The Democratic governor said she is expecting legal challenges but felt compelled to act in response to gun violence, including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week.The Associated Press

Appeals court scales back order squelching Biden administration contact with social media platforms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court Friday significantly whittled down a lower court’s order curbing Biden administration communications with social media companies over controversial content about COVID-19 and other issues.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Friday said the White House, the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and the FBI cannot “coerce” social media platforms to take down posts the government doesn’t like. But the court threw out broader language in an order that a Louisiana-based federal judge issued on July 4 that effectively blocked multiple government agencies from contacting platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to urge that content be taken down. Even the appeals court’s softened order doesn’t take effect immediately. The administration has 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review.Friday evening’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed in northeast Louisiana that accused administration officials of coerc...

Phoenix is on the cusp of a new heat record after a 53rd day reaching at least 110 degrees this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix is on the cusp of yet another heat record this summer after an additional day of 110-degree weather. The National Weather Service said the desert city on Friday saw 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) for the 53rd day this year, tying it with the record set in 2020. If Phoenix reaches 110 degrees or more as expected Saturday, it would mark a record 54 days in one year. An extreme heat warning is in effect for the entire weekend, with temperatures forecast as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius) on Saturday and 111 degrees Fahrenheit (43.8 Celsius) on Sunday. A high of 109 degrees Fahrenheit (42.7 Celsius) is forecast for Monday. In July, Phoenix set a record with a 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 degrees. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.It was part of a historic heat wave that stretched from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.Phoenix has now seen over 100 days with 100-degree Fahrenheit-plus (...

Residents of West Kelowna fire zone get brief home access but restrictions extended

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

WEST KELOWNA, B.C. — Residents of wildfire-ravaged Wilson’s Landing in West Kelowna, B.C., were granted a four-hour window Friday to access their homes to retrieve important items as an area-wide restriction order was extended to Sept. 15.The Central Okanagan Regional District says in a statement residents were temporarily permitted entry to the evacuation zone, but no further access is expected this weekend.Evacuation alerts were lifted near Lytton and Lillooet in the Fraser Canyon, as areas that had been threatened by the Kookipi Creek and Stein Mountain wildfires were given the all-clear.However the province remains under a state of emergency, with the BC Wildfire Service reporting 413 active wildfires across the province, 182 burning out of control and seven new fires being reported in the past 24 hours. The McDougall Creek wildfire that destroyed scores of homes when it swept down on West Kelowna three weeks ago continues to be battled by almost 300 firefighters and suppo...

Teacher shortage closes Vegas schools and forces combined classes during union contract battle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Staffing issues in Las Vegas-area schools reached a critical point this month, with classes being canceled or combined across the nation’s fifth-largest school district during bitter contract negotiations. The Clark County School District and the teachers union, which represents about 18,000 licensed employees, have been negotiating a new contract since late March over topics such as pay, benefits and working conditions.School district officials said in a statement earlier this week that “CCSD students should not be used as bargaining leverage” by the Clark County Education Association. But union leaders say they aren’t behind the recent wave of teachers who have called in sick, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.In Nevada, it is illegal for public employees to strike.After an unexpected number of staff members at a Las Vegas high school called in sick last Friday ahead of the Labor Day weekend, classes were combined in “larger areas of the campus to ...

Indianapolis officer gets 1 year in prison for kicking a handcuffed man in the face during an arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to kicking a handcuffed man in the face during a 2021 arrest was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison Friday by a judge who said the attack “shocked the conscience.”The sentence is less than the 1 1/2 to 2 years in prison that prosecutors had sought for Sgt. Eric Huxley, who pleaded guilty in May to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for his attack on Jermaine Vaughn in September 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson cited Huxley’s lack of criminal history, his family’s needs and his acceptance of responsibility for what he did in giving him a yearlong prison term, The Indianapolis Star reported. Magnus-Stinson also ordered Huxley to two years of supervised release after he completes his prison term, with home detention for the first six months.Magnus-Stinson admonished Huxley for committing an act that “shocked the conscience” and said she “physically pulled away” when ...

Judge says civil trial over Trump’s real estate boasts could last three months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:14:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — An upcoming civil trial over allegations that former president Donald Trump lied about his wealth could last as long as three months, according to a schedule laid out Friday by the judge hearing the case.Opening arguments are expected Oct. 2 in the trial over a lawsuit filed against Trump and his family business by New York Attorney General Letitia James. In the suit, James has said Trump deceived lenders, potential business associates and others by chronically exaggerating the value of his real estate holdings.The trial is expected to feature extensive amounts of expert testimony over how much Trump holdings, like his golf courses and skyscrapers, were actually worth. Judge Arthur Engoron, in an order filed Friday, said the trial should end by Dec. 22, though he added that the lawyers handling the case could ask for additional time if necessary.Trump has defended his asset valuations, saying that his estates, skyscrapers and golf clubs were luxurious, unique propert...