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Once Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord, the kingpin known as Otoniel gets 45 years in prison in US

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, the man known as Otoniel was seen as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords, the elusive boss of a cartel and paramilitary group with a blood-drenched grip on much of northern Colombia.On Tuesday, Dairo Antonio Úsuga was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the U.S. after saying he accepted responsibility for his deeds. “I apologize to the governments of the United States and of Colombia and to the victims of the crimes that I have committed,” Úsuga, 51, said through a court interpreter. He had pleaded guilty in January to high-level drug trafficking charges, admitting he oversaw the smuggling of tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and acknowledging “there was a lot of violence with the guerillas and the criminal gangs.” The U.S. agreed not to seek a life sentence in order to get him extradited from Colombia. Úsuga and his lawyers sought to cast him as a product of his homeland’s woes — a man born into remote rural poverty, surrounded by gueri...

Pence says he’s now met the polling and donor qualifications for the first Republican debate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday he has qualified for the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential cycle, securing the required number of donors with just two weeks until candidates gather in Milwaukee.According to his campaign, Pence has amassed 40,000 unique donors, checking off the final debate requirement set by the Republican National Committee.Pence becomes the eighth candidate to announce qualification for the first debate, joining former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.Pence had long ago met the RNC’s polling requirements for the Aug. 23 debate — at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21 — but struggled to notch the mandated number of donor...

Tim Hortons drives RBI’s sales growth but exec chairman wants more profitability

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

TORONTO — Restaurant Brands International Inc. says it delivered double-digit sales growth in its latest quarter amid higher revenues at Tim Hortons and Burger King, but its executive chairman wants more to be done to drive store-level profitability.“I’d put the quarter solidly in the win column, but we also still have plenty of opportunities,” said Patrick Doyle on Tuesday during a conference call with analysts.Doyle, who was chief executive of pizza chain Domino’s when it underwent a transformation, has been observing the Toronto-based parent company behind Tims, Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs since he joined RBI last November.His introduction to RBI has come as the brand has been charting its rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed people to work remotely and forgo office coffee breaks and other dining out occasions that RBI restaurants fuelled.As Doyle approaches his one-year mark with the company, quick-serve restauran...

Man, 67, found stabbed to death on South Side; person in custody

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — A person is in custody after a 67-year-old man was found stabbed to death on the city's South Side.Police said the man was found unresponsive in the 7100 block of South Cyril Avenue in the South Shore neighborhood around 9 p.m. Monday.According to police, the man sustained fatal lacerations to the head and lower right leg following a verbal altercation that became physical. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Neighbor charged in fatal shooting of 9-year-old girl in Portage Park An offender is in custody and charges are pending, police said.Area detectives are investigating the incident.

WATCH LIVE | Biden announcing historic Grand Canyon monument designation during his Arizona visit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes' and environmentalists' decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality. Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, national climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed. It will mark the Democratic president's fifth monument designation.Tribes in Arizona have been pushing Biden to use his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create a new national monument called Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni. “Baaj Nwaavjo” means “where tribes roam,” for the Havasupai people, while “I’tah Kukveni” translates to “our footprints,” for the Hopi tribe.Arizona is a key battleground state that Biden won narrowly in 2020, becoming the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1996 to carry it. ...

2 firefighters hospitalized following extra-alarm blaze in Humboldt Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — The city's fire department said Tuesday that two Chicago firefighters were hospitalized after battling an extra-alarm fire in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. After responding to the house fire in the 1700 block of N. Monticello Ave, the firefighters were taken to the hospital in good condition. Their injuries were not specified. CPD: 24 armed robberies throughout Northwest Side since Saturday The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.Update: 2-11/EMSP1/Mayday at 1714 N Monticello Ave - 2 CFD- Members transported in good condition. All companies working pic.twitter.com/W9yfvEI2OF— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) August 8, 2023SkyCam9 is flying above the scene. This is a developing story. Check back with WGN News for updates.

Man accused of keeping woman in cinderblock cell had previously appeared on 'Judge Judy'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

(KRON) – A man who allegedly held a woman captive inside a homemade cinder block dungeon in Oregon appeared on a 2018 television episode of "Judge Judy" to sue the mother of his two children over a domestic dispute, according to multiple reports.Negasi Zuberi, 29, was arrested in July after a woman escaped his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, the FBI announced last week. The victim had been kidnapped in Seattle, Washington, before being sexually assaulted and locked in a cinderblock cell.The victim punched her way out of the cell after Zuberi left, then escaped and flagged down a passing motorist, according to the FBI. ‘Help me’ sign leads to rescue of kidnapped Texas girl in California Zuberi fled to Reno, Nevada, where he was taken into custody on July 16. He has since been linked to several additional violent sexual assaults in other states.'Judge Judy' appearanceNegasi Zuberi is seen in a mugshot released by the Washoe County Detention Facility in Reno, Nevada, on July 16, 2023....

Florida school district says trans employees can't use pronouns, bathrooms matching their gender identity

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

(The Hill) -- Florida's Orange County Public Schools sent out a memo on Monday that says its transgender employees and contractors can't use the pronouns or bathrooms that match their gender identity due to state law. The memo discusses House Bill 1069, which focuses on sex defined as an “immutable biological trait” at birth based on hormones and genitalia. Under the law, no one is allowed to be required to use a person’s “preferred personal title or pronoun,” and students are not to be asked for their pronouns. “The bill states that a transgender employee or contractor may not provide a personal title or pronoun to students which does not correspond the employee’s or contractor’s biological sex at birth,” the Orange County memo states.The second law mentioned in the memo, House Bill 1521, has to do with what bathroom an individual can use. Transgender students and employees will have single-stall bathrooms they can use — or they are allowed to use the bathroom that corres...

Neighbor charged in fatal shooting of 9-year-old Chicago girl; witnesses say he was upset over noise

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO (WGN) — A 43-year-old Chicago man has been charged with murder after witnesses said his 9-year-old neighbor was fatally shot by someone upset over noise.Michael Goodman faces one felony count of first-degree murder after police said Serabi Medina was shot in the head in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood around 9:40 p.m. Saturday. The girl was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead. Police said Goodman was arrested moments later after being identified as the shooter."It just didn’t make sense. None of it made sense,” neighbor Megan Kelle told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing. Just let them be.”She added, "Before he shot her, he had said something about them being too loud.” Girl, 9, fatally shot in head in Portage Park; offender in custody Goodman sustained a gunshot wound after an apparent struggle with the girl’s father, according to a police repor...

Supreme Court revives Biden's ghost gun restrictions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:25 GMT

(The Hill)- The Supreme Court revived the Biden administration’s restrictions on so-called ghost guns in a 5-4 emergency ruling on Tuesday.The justices agreed to pause a lower court’s decision, which invalidated the regulation nationwide, as the administration continues its appeal.The decision hands a victory to Biden, at least for now. Biden last year announced the crackdown on ghost guns, referring to firearms that are sold as do-it-yourself kits and are generally hard to trace.The case will now proceed in a lower appeals court, which is slated to hear oral arguments next month. The matter could ultimately return to the Supreme Court.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals in temporarily reviving the restrictions. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.The new regulations implemented by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have come under m...