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Montana transgender lawmaker faces possible discipline

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Republican leaders in Montana are voting Wednesday on whether to discipline transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr for saying her colleagues would “see the blood on your hands” over votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.Lawmakers began their session shortly after 1 p.m.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Republican leaders in Montana will vote Wednesday on censuring or expelling transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr for saying her colleagues would “see the blood on your hands” over votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.For the past week, Zephyr has been forbidden from speaking on the House floor. A protest against lawmakers silencing Zephyr disrupted Monday’s House session. Authorities arrested seven people in a confrontation that Republicans claim Zephyr had encouraged. The first-term Democrat received notice from House leaders Tuesday night informing her of the plan to consider disciplinary action a...

Stock market today: First Republic falls more, tech rallies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is falling again Wednesday, though a rally for Microsoft and some other Big Tech stocks is helping to limit the losses. The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in late trading after erasing an earlier gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 237 points, or 0.7%, at 33,283, with less than an hour to go in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was leading the market with a 0.4% gain.Wall Street is coming off its worst day in a month, hurt by concerns about the strength of U.S. banks. The spotlight has been harshest on First Republic Bank, which lost another 33% after nearly halving the day before. That’s when it detailed for the first time how many of its customers bolted amid last month’s turmoil in the industry.The worry is that it and other smaller and mid-sized banks could suffer debilitating runs of deposits from customers, similar to the ones that caused the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history last month.PacWest Bancorp., a...

House Republicans prep for debt vote; Biden open to meeting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rushed ahead Wednesday toward a vote on his sweeping debt ceiling package despite a veto threat from the White House, shoring up support after making post-midnight concessions to Republican holdouts in the slim GOP majority.Passage of the sprawling 320-page package in the House would be a turnaround for the embattled McCarthy as he unites his fractious Republican majority confronting President Joe Biden with demands for spending restrictions and cuts in exchange for approving $1.5 trillion more in debt to pay the nation’s bills. While the president has refused to negotiate over the debt limit and has threatened to veto the broad Republican bill — which would almost surely die in the Democratic Senate anyway — McCarthy is challenging Biden with his plan to kickstart negotiations and prevent a potentially catastrophic federal default this summer. The two men could hardly be further apart on how to resolve the issue.Biden, on Wednesd...

Teck says Glencore bid remains ‘non-starter,’ but leaves door open for suitors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

Teck Resources Ltd.’s move to cancel a key shareholder vote on its plan to separate its businesses may be seen as a win for Glencore in its ongoing campaign to acquire the Vancouver-based mining company.But Teck is standing by its assertion that the offer by the Swiss commodities giant remains a “non-starter,” and Teck CEO Jonathan Price indicated Wednesday the company may be receptive to other suitors. “We have premium businesses. And when it comes to M&A, we firmly believe that competition for assets drives value,” Price told a conference call with analysts.Teck announced just hours before its annual meeting Wednesday that it will not go ahead with the vote on its plan to split its metals and steelmaking coal businesses into two companies.The move suggested the company did not believe it had the two-thirds approval from shareholders required for its proposal, which would have split the company into Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources (EVR).Glenco...

Senate talks terror prevention since Boston Marathon bombing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The chair of the U.S. Senate subcommittee on emerging national security threats said at a hearing Wednesday that much has been learned about enhancing emergency response and counterterrorism efforts in the decade since the Boston Marathon bombing, but more can still be done.Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire used her opening remarks at the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Hearing in Washington to reflect on changes since two pressure-cooker bombs went off near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013.“I am proud of the rapid response to the horror of the attack on that day, and last week, on the 10th anniversary of the bombing, I was proud to watch joyful crowds urging on determined race participants,” she said. “However, there is still much work to do to strengthen our ability to prevent and respond to emerging threats.”Former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis testified that among the biggest changes since the bombing have...

We Build The Wall founder sentenced to 4 years in prison

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The co-founder of a fundraising group linked to Steve Bannon that promised to help Donald Trump construct a wall along the southern U.S. border was sentenced to four years and three months in prison on Wednesday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors.Brian Kolfage, a decorated Air Force veteran who lost both of his legs and an arm in the Iraq War, previously pleaded guilty for his role in siphoning donations from the We Build the Wall campaign.A co-defendant, financier Andrew Badolato, was also sentenced to three years for aiding the effort. He had also pleaded guilty. A third man involved in siphoning funds from the wall project, Colorado businessman Tim Shea, won’t be sentenced until June.Kolfage and Badolato were also ordered to pay $25 million in restitution to the victims.Absent from the case was Bannon, Trump’s former top political adviser. He was initially arrested aboard a luxury yacht and faced federal fraud charges along with ...

Cedric the Entertainer has novel coming in September

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Call him the Cedric the Novelist. Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Wednesday that it will publish a novel in September by Cedric the Entertainer. “Flipping Boxcars,” billed as a “valentine” to 1940s crime fiction, is scheduled for Sept. 12.“Flipping Boxcars is an homage to my grandfather, who I never met, but I’ve been told I am a lot like,” Cedric the Entertainer, who stars in the CBS-TV comedy “The Neighborhood” and has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, said in a statement. “This is an intriguing novel filled with surprises, thrills, triumphs, and the heartaches of a family connected through time and circumstance.”The novel is co-written by Alan Eisenstock, who has worked on books with George Lopez and Robert Schimmel.The Associated Press

Argentina: A desperate search for a door as currency tumbles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Antonela Massarelli desperately needed a front door for the new house she and her family will move into this weekend in a Buenos Aires suburb.The 29-year-old mother of two said she found one prospect Tuesday morning at about 20,000 pesos, but noted with exasperation that the price went up by afternoon to more than 30,000. And store owners — faced with potentially higher costs to replace doors the next day — mostly wanted to hold onto their merchandise.“They didn’t want to sell,” she said. “I went to a lot of places and they were closing, they said, ‘I can’t sell to you’, ‘I can’t sell to you’ and the doors they did want to sell were of a really crappy material.”Her eventual purchase, at 31,900 Argentinian pesos, amounted to US$65 at black-market rates, US$144 at the official rate.Massarelli’s struggle with the door reflected the uncertainty in Argentina as its currency has sharply depreciated over the past week in the informal market, raising fresh que...

Tornado Watch in effect for parts of the area until 10 p.m.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A Tornado Watch is in effect for parts of the area north and west of Travis County until 10 p.m. this evening for the potential of tornadoes.Severe thunderstorms are possible even outside of the Tornado Watch, including in Austin this evening.There will be storms tonight with the arrival of an upper-level disturbance and a cold front moving southeast over the area. Storms should start advancing through the area after 9 to 10 p.m. starting in San Saba County.The Storm Prediction Center updated its risk area for tonight to include most of the area in the slight risk (Category 2 out of 5) for severe storms. It should be noted that far northern Lampasas and the northern half of Milam Counties are on the southern edge of the enhanced risk area (Category 3 out of 5).Overnight threat of severe thunderstormsStorm threats for tonightShowers may linger past 6 a.m. until around 9 a.m. Thursday followed by clearing to a mostly sunny sky tomorrow afternoon. Saturday night sto...

Tracking Lady Bird Lake deaths in Austin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:11:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — People in Austin are questioning a series of deaths in lake waters in Austin.Online reports have been swirling in recent weeks about a possible connection between the deaths in Lady Bird Lake. Texas expert explores why conspiracies swirl around Lady Bird Lake deaths This report aims to provide KXAN viewers with full transparency and facts. As of now, there is no strong connection to the deaths, according to Austin Police. “There are a lot of allegations that there’s a serial killer, but there’s no proof or evidence in any of our investigations to sustain that,” APD Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt told KXAN in April.APD said the "circumstances, exact locations and demographics surrounding these cases vary.”“One common theme of the drownings in Austin this year is the combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake,” the department continued.Deaths in Lady Bird LakeSo far this year, there have been at least four bodies that were found in Lady Bird Lake in 202...