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House Republicans push through defense bill limiting abortion access and halting diversity efforts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber.Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week.The final vote was 219-210, with four Democrats siding with the GOP and four Republicans opposed. The bill, as written, is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate.Efforts to halt U.S. funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia were turned back, but Republicans added provisions to stem the Defense Department’s diversity initiatives and to restrict access to abortions. ...

Bankrate: What is the difference between a backdoor Roth IRA and a mega backdoor Roth?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

Bob Haegele | Bankrate (TNS)A Roth IRA is a great way for savers and investors to grow wealth. The advantages include tax-free growth on money withdrawn after age 59 1/2, assuming the account has been open for at least five years.But high earners often can’t contribute to a Roth IRA. If your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is more than $153,000 in tax year 2023 ($228,000 if married, filing jointly), you can’t contribute to a Roth IRA at all.This situation gave rise to the backdoor Roth and the mega backdoor Roth. They sound similar, but there are many differences between the two strategies. If you’re a high earner, one of them might be worth pursuing.What is a backdoor Roth IRA?A backdoor Roth IRA is fairly straightforward. If you make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, you contribute to a traditional IRA instead. While you can only contribute up to $6,500 to an IRA in 2023 ($7,500 for those 50 and over), there is no specific conversion limit.Suppose you’ve been contributin...

Long Island architect charged in deaths of 3 women in connection with Gilgo Beach serial killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

RIVERHEAD, NY (AP) — A Long Island architect has been charged with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders.Rex Heuermann, who has lived for decades across a bay from where the remains were found, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He is also considered the prime suspect in another killing, authorities said.Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday in Massapequa amid a renewed investigation that tied him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010. Detectives eventually recovered his DNA and matched it to genetic material recovered from the bodies, which were bound up and hidden in thick underbrush along a remote beach highway.In recent months, authorities said, Heuermann sought to keep tabs on the probe, conducting hundreds of internet searches for the names of women he’s accused of killing, as well as podca...

19-year-old firefighter who died in B.C. is identified by her brother

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

A 19-year-old B.C. firefighter who police say was killed by a falling tree near Revelstoke on Thursday has been identified by her brother as Devyn Gale.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier David Eby say her death is “heartbreaking.”Nolan Gale says in an Instagram post that his sister was “kind and thoughtful,” and he’s grateful to have grown up alongside her.Revelstoke RCMP say in a news release that does not name Gale that the firefighter was working on brush-clearing in a remote area where a fire had started.They say her team found her pinned under a fallen tree and began first aid, but she succumbed to her injuries after being airlifted to a hospital in Revelstoke.Her death comes as B.C. battles more than 360 fires across the province.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2023.The Canadian Press

Court grants temporary injunction to end Winnipeg landfill blockade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba judge has granted a temporary injunction to end a blockade at a Winnipeg landfill, where dozens of protesters have blocked the main road demanding a search of a different landfill north of the city for the remains of two slain Indigenous women. “The city needs to operate its facility in the manner that it’s authorized to do so without interruption,” Justice Sheldon Lanchbery said Friday. The judge said demonstrators can continue to protest at the Brady Road landfill, but they cannot block the road. They can hand out materials and talk with people passing by, he said. The blockade began last week after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province would not support a search of the other landfill, Prairie Green, pointing to a study that said it could cost up to $184 million and expose workers to toxic chemicals and asbestos. The city filed an application Tuesday to the Court of King’s Bench seeking the removal of protesters.Lawyers for the demo...

Stock market today: Wall Street turns mixed after profit reports, heads for another winning week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks turned mixed Friday following profit reports from several big U.S. companies that topped expectations, but Wall Street remained on pace for another winning week.The S&P 500 fell 0.1% in afternoon trading after giving up small gains earlier in the day. It is coming off its highest close since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 147 points, or 0.4%, at 34,539, as of 2:34 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group rallied 7.8% after it said profit growth during the spring was better than feared. It also raised the bottom end of its forecast for earnings for the full year.JPMorgan Chase gained 0.4% after it said its profit during the spring grew by more than expected thanks in part to its acquisition of the troubled First Republic Bank. Wells Fargo fell 0.3% despite also reporting stronger profit for the second quarter than expected. On the losing end was State Street, which fell 10.7% after re...

Jesse Jackson is stepping down as head of civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to step down from leading the Chicago civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded in 1971, his son’s congressional office said Friday. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson confirmed the long-time civil rights leader would be retiring from the organization.The elder Jackson, a civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, plans to announce his plan on Sunday during the organization’s annual convention, Rep. Jackson told the Chicago Sun-Times.Jonathan Jackson, an Illinois Democrat, said his father “has forever been on the scene of justice and has never stopped fighting for civil rights” and that will be “his mark upon history.”The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who will turn 82 in October, has remained active in civil rights in recent years despite health setbacks. He announced in 2017 that he had begun outpatient care for Parkinson’s disease two years earlier. In early 2021, he had gallbladder surgery and late...

Police investigate road shooting in Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

BLADENSBURG, Md. (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting Friday in a Maryland suburb of the nation’s capital that shut down area roads. Images from the scene showed a heavy police presence on a bridge that crosses the Anacostia River in Bladensburg, about a mile east of the Maryland line with Washington, D.C. Bladensburg police announced plans for an afternoon news conference to discuss the shooting, But authorities did not release any details about how many people were shot, the seriousness of their injuries or the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Officials with the neighboring Edmonston Police Department said they were assisting with the investigation. They said the shooting was an isolated incident and didn’t pose an ongoing threat to public safety.The Associated Press

Vermonters rush to dry out flooded homes and businesses with more storms on the horizon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

Vermonters worked Friday to dry out homes and businesses damaged by historic flooding but kept a wary eye on the horizon, with another round of storms forecast for the weekend.Parts of the state got more rain on Thursday and about 14,000 customers at the height of the storm. More rain is expected on Sunday, and further out, next Tuesday.“We don’t know the extent of some of these storms,” Gov. Phil Scott said at a news conference. Storms dumped up to two months’ worth of rain in a couple of days in parts of the region this week, surpassing the amount that fell when Tropical Storm Irene blew through in 2011 and caused major flooding. Officials called this week’s flooding the state’s worst natural disaster since floods in 1927. The flooding has been blamed for one death — a man who drowned in his home in Barre, a city of about 8,500 people in central Vermont. Stephen Davoll, 63, died Wednesday, said Vermont Emergency Management spokesman Mark Bosma, who urged Vermonte...

Security Council gives UN chief 30 days to come up with options on how to fight Haiti’s armed gangs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:51:01 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council asked the secretary-general on Friday to come up with options to help combat Haiti’s armed gangs, including a possible U.N. peacekeeping force and a non-U.N. multinational force.A resolution adopted unanimously by the council asks U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report back on “a full range” of options within 30 days to improve the security situation, including additional training for the Haitian National Police and providing support to combat illegal arms trafficking to the impoverished Caribbean nation. It also authorizes up to 70 U.N. police and corrections advisers to scale up support and training for Haiti’s understaffed and underfunded national police force. And it “encourages” countries, especially in the Caribbean region, to respond to appeals from Haiti’s prime minister and from Guterres for the deployment of an international specialized force.Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry sent an urgent appeal last October for...