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Biden will meet with families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas on Wednesday at the White House

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

By ZEKE MILLER and COLLEEN LONG (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday will hold his first in-person meeting with the families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas during its brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, two White House officials said.It was not immediately clear how many families would be attending the White House meeting in person, or via videoconference. Biden has previously met with some family members virtually and spoken to others on the phone, officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Biden’s schedule.“We’re not going to stop until every hostage is returned home,” Biden told donors in Washington on Friday, saying the U.S. commitment to Israel is “unshakable.”Seven Americans remain unaccounted for after Hamas’ surprise air, sea and land incursion into Israeli towns, where the group killed about 1,200 Israelis — mostly civilians — and took more than 240 people hostage. Four Americans were released as part of ...

George Santos attorney expresses optimism about plea talks as expelled congressman appears in court

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

By PHILIP MARCELO (Associated Press)CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. George Santos ‘ lawyer expressed optimism about plea negotiations in Santos’ criminal fraud case Tuesday, successfully fending off prosecutors’ attempts to speed up the the ousted congressman’s trial.In Santos’ first court appearance since he was expelled from Congress earlier this month, his attorney, Joseph Murray, argued that it was premature to bring the September trial forward while the two parties were in talks to resolve the case.“We should focus on the plea deal. I believe they can be fruitful,” Murray told Judge Joanna Seybert in the federal court in Long Island. He also argued that he was “struggling” to keep up with “voluminous materials” produced by the government during the discovery process.Seybert sided with Murray, saying she would try to move the case “as expeditiously as possible” but that September seemed like the earliest possible date based on her current caseload. She set the next h...

Online sports betting to start in Vermont in January

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont sports fans will be able to bet online starting early next year when mobile sports betting kicks off in the state on Jan. 11, Republican Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday.The state Department of Liquor and Lottery picked DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics Sportsbook to operate mobile sports wagering platforms in Vermont, he said.“I first proposed Vermont legalize sports wagering several years ago, and it’s good to see it come to fruition,” Scott said in a statement. “Vermonters and visitors alike will soon be able to access a regulated sports wagering marketplace, which will come with important consumer protections and generate revenue for the State.”He signed a bill into law in June legalizing online sports betting in Vermont, joining nearly three dozen other states. Each year the Department of Liquor and Lottery, in consultation with the Department of Mental Health, will provide a report to the Legislature on the im...

Georgia election worker says she feared for her life over fraud lies in Giuliani defamation case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — A Georgia election worker told jurors Tuesday that she feared for her life as she received a barrage of racist and threatening messages fueled by Rudy Giuliani’s false claims that she and her mother had rigged the 2020 election results in the state. Wiping away tears on the witness stand, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, read messages accusing her of treason and calling her a thug and a racist term. She recounted changing her appearance to try to hide as Giuliani and other allies of former President Donald Trump used surveillance footage to accuse her and her mother, Ruby Freeman, of committing voter fraud. “I was afraid for my life. I literally felt like someone going to come and attempt to hang me and there’s nothing that anyone will be able to do about it,” the 39-year-old said.Her emotional testimony came on the second day of a defamation trial that Giuliani’s ...

South Dakota vanity plate restrictions were unconstitutional, lawsuit settlement says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

South Dakota officials will no longer deny applications for personalized license plates based on whether the plate’s message is deemed to be “offensive to good taste and decency,” following the state’s admission that the language is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.The change is part of a settlement state officials reached in a lawsuit filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Lyndon Hart. His 2022 application to the Motor Vehicle Division for a vanity plate reading “REZWEED” was denied after state officials called it “in bad taste.”Hart runs a business called Rez Weed Indeed, which he uses to support the legal selling and use of marijuana on Native American reservations. Hart intended for the personalized license plate to refer to his business and its mission of promoting tribal sovereignty, the ACLU said. The section of the law allowing for denial of personalized plates based on the decency clause is “unconstitutional ...

Colorado cattle industry sues over wolf reintroduction on the cusp of the animals’ release

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Just weeks before the deadline for Colorado to begin reintroducing gray wolves under a voter-approved initiative, representatives of the cattle industry association are suing state and federal agencies in litigation that could delay the predators’ release.The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association and Colorado Cattlemen’s Association say in the lawsuit filed Monday that U.S. Fish and Wildlife failed to adequately review the environmental effects of the plan to reintroduce up to 50 wolves over the next several years. The predators’ release in Colorado, voted for in a 2020 ballot measure, has already stirred controversy and sharpened divides between rural and urban residents. City dwellers largely voted for the measures that would most affect rural areas, where wolves can prey on livestock that help drive local economies. U.S. Fish and Wildlife did perform an environmental review in part on what is called the 10(j) rule, which would permit the killing of w...

Video game expo E3 gets permanently canceled

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the highest-profile video game conventions is being shut down permanently, its organizers said Tuesday.The Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, had been held annually in Los Angeles since 1995 and was a popular spot for game companies to tease their latest creations before they hit store shelves.The event hosted by a trade group, the Entertainment Software Association, had already been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in June 2020. But E3 was facing trouble before the pandemic, with a host of companies either skipping the fair or staging their own events nearby.It held a virtual-only event in 2021 and planned a comeback this year that was canceled after reports that industry giants Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would not attend.“After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3,” the ESA said Tuesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The group said its...

Florida dentist gets life in prison in death of his ex-brother-in-law, a prominent professor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A judge sentenced a South Florida dentist to life in prison on Tuesday in the shooting death of his former brother-in-law, a prominent professor at Florida State University, following a bitter custody battle.Charlie Adelson, 47, was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation last month in the 2014 killing of Dan Markel, who was gunned down in his car outside his Tallahassee home. Prosecutors contended that Adelson paid to have Markel killed, and jurors took just three hours to find him guilty.“I would just like to say that I maintain my innocence,” a stoic Adelson told the judge, who also sentenced him to 30 consecutive years on the lesser counts. Prosecutors laid out a case of wire taps and secretly recorded conversations that implicated Adelson during the eight-day trial. Markel’s father, Phil Markel, said he and his family have “suffered tremendously” adding that he not only lost his son, but also lost a relationship with his grandso...

Ukrainian president in U.S. capital pushing gridlocked lawmakers to advance aid funds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

WASHINGTON — There’s little evidence Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has managed to change any minds on Capitol Hill.Zelenskyy is in the U.S. capital in an effort to convince Republican lawmakers to advance additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. But Republicans are refusing to approve more funding without a clear U.S. strategy on Ukraine, as well as measures to confront the migration crisis at the Mexico-U.S. border. House Speaker Mike Johnson says the White House has yet to provide more clarity on how U.S. aid will help bring an end to Ukraine’s war with Russia. Johnson says it’s up to the Senate to approve legislation already passed by the House that would restrict asylum claims and buttress border security. Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet later Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden.“They have not provided us the clarity and the detail that we’ve requested over and over,” Johnson said after members of Congress met with the U...

Auto union boss urges New Jersey lawmakers to pass casino smoking ban

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:25 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Shawn Fain, the international president of the United Auto Workers union who recently won large raises for his workers, is taking aim at a new target: New Jersey lawmakers who are delaying votes on a bill to ban smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos.The head of the powerful union, which represents workers at three casinos here, is urging legislators to move the bill forward in a scheduled hearing Thursday, warning that the union will “monitor and track” their votes.Many casino workers have been pushing for three years to close a loophole in the state’s public smoking law that specifically exempts casinos from a ban. Despite overwhelming bipartisan support from lawmakers, and a promise from the state’s Democratic governor to sign the measure, it has been bottled up in state government committees without a vote to move it forward.The same state Senate committee that failed to vote on the bill last month is due to try again on Thursday. Fain’s ...