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House GOP looks to Senate to force talks on debt impasse

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

WASHINGTON — House Republicans challenged the U.S. Senate to pass a debt limit bill of its own and sought to maintain pressure on President Joe Biden to hold talks on spending cuts they’ve linked to an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit.A Republican-only debt proposal passed by the House last week would cut $4.8 trillion in domestic spending as the price for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. Biden has insisted the two topics shouldn’t be linked and his administration has warned that a U.S. default would be disastrous for Americans and the economy.“For all that we hear from our Senate friends, they’ve yet to pass anything,” Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “If they’ve got a better idea, I want to see that bill and tell them to pass it through the Senate.”The stalemate in Washington risks pushing the Treasury toward a U.S. payments default by an “X date” that may arrive as soon as June.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s success in...

Ticker: California moves to phase out diesel trucks; EU ends standoff over Ukraine farm glut

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

New big rigs and buses that run on diesel would not be sold in California starting in 2036, according to new rules approved by state regulators to wean the state off fossil fuels and combat climate change.The rule would tackle pollution from heavy trucks used to transport goods through ports and require companies to disclose their use of these so-called drayage trucks by 2024.The rule cannot be implemented without approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.But it’s related to standards the Biden administration already approved last month to phase out diesel-powered box trucks, semitrailers and large passenger pick-ups. If the EPA approves California’s rule, other states could later adopt the same standards.Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom touted Friday’s move as a chance to show “the world what real climate action looks like.”“We’re one step closer to achieving healthier neighborhoods and cleaner air for all Californians,” he sai...

Winderman’s view: Support from supporting cast when needed by Heat, so it’s 1-0

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday’s 108-101 NBA playoff victory over the New York Knicks:– No, Gabe Vincent won’t necessarily go down as the Tim Hardaway of Heat-Knicks 2.0.– And Kevin Love might not necessarily be P.J. Brown 2.0.– Or Caleb Martin as Dan Majerle 2.0.– But just as Alonzo Mourning received steady support when Heat-Knicks initially became a rivalry, so did Jimmy Butler’s supporting cast in this one.– Heck, it almost was as if Kyle Lowry channeled his inner Terry Porter (look that one up, kids. Yes, he played here.).– This is what it is going to take with Tyler Herro out.– And that is what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra got Sunday.– No, the Heat might not break the bank for Vincent in free agency.– No, Love might not be back as a free agent.– And, no, Lowry might not live up to his contract (although Martin certainly has).– But for one afternoon, as part of this most unlike...

‘A beacon of protection’: Girl’s death sparks training for judges in Ontario

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

Jennifer Kagan wipes away a single tear as she composes herself once again to discuss her daughter’s legacy.Her four-year-old, Keira Kagan, was found dead next to her father’s body at the base of a cliff in a Milton, Ont., conservation area in February 2020. A provincial committee found it was “extremely consistent” with past cases of murder-suicide involving a father and a child.Kagan, who had been in a bitter custody battle with Keira’s violent father for years, was determined to have the tragedy result in changes to the way the judicial system deals with cases of intimate partner violence. She and Keira’s stepfather, Philip Viater, spent years pushing lawmakers to drive change.Those efforts have now resulted in Keira’s name being enshrined in new federal and provincial legislation designed to help other children avoid her fate.“We’re remembering Keira in this positive way because she really didn’t deserve this,” Ka...

Mississippi River waters keep rising in Iowa and Illinois

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — People living along the Mississippi River watched warily Sunday as water levels rose in southeast Iowa and northwest Illinois, awaiting spring crests as floodwaters began to slowly recede and reveal damage in areas further north.The National Weather Service said many of the crests across the region this season will rank in the top 10 of all time, but will remain several feet below the records set in past floods. Officials in many cities along the river are optimistic they’ll be able to either keep the floodwaters at bay through a combination of floodwalls and sandbags or contain it to low-lying park areas. But some homes close to the river have been damaged.“Luckily we’ve had relatively dry weather over the last week or so and not expecting much in the way of rainfall as well,” National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Philip said. “So it’s coming through as forecast for the most part.”The river peaked in the Dubuque area Saturday at 23.03 feet (7 meter...

Fashion designer for Russian first ladies dies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s most famous fashion designer, Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who dressed the country’s first ladies, has died at the age of 85, Russian news outlets reported Sunday.An obituary published by the TASS news agency said he died after a long illness but didn’t state when. According to other Russian media reports, he was taken to a hospital in the Moscow region with stomach bleeding and died in intensive care.Zaitsev was born March 2, 1938 in Ivanovo — a center for the textile industry, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north-east of Moscow — in a Soviet Union where much of the standard attire was gray, outdated and unimaginative. He rocketed to fame in his homeland — and to some extent the world — when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife Raisa wore his creations in the 1980s and early 1990s. Thanks to the visibility of the Soviet couple, the reform program known as “perestroika”, and an economic and political program that elicited hope, Zaitsev went ...

1 killed when plane slams into hillside in LA neighborhood

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One person was killed when a single-engine plane slammed into a grassy hillside above homes in a Los Angeles neighborhood amid dense fog, authorities said. The Cessna C172 crashed around 8:45 p.m. Saturday in a neighborhood on the city’s west side, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Van Nuys Airport, the Los Angeles Fire Department and Federal Aviation Administration said. Joubin Solemani was at home with his family in the Beverly Crest neighborhood when they all heard a loud crash. “We thought it might be a car crash, but we looked outside and didn’t see anything. We didn’t know what the heck it was,” Solemani said Sunday. “Then search-and-rescue showed up and were all over the hillside.” After searching for several hours in darkness and “thick ground level fog,” crews found the crash site and one person dead in the wreckage, the fire department said in a statement. The pilot was the plane’s lone occupant, the FAA said. When the sun ...

Man arrested after $3M worth of drugs shipped to restaurant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

AUBURN, Maine (AP) — Employees of a Maine restaurant got a surprise when they opened a large wooden crate that they thought was a shipment of mugs they had recently ordered.Instead, they found a plastic tote that contained what law enforcement suspect is 14 kilograms (31 pounds) of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl with an estimated street value of $3 million, Auburn police Deputy Chief Timothy Cougle said in a statement Saturday.The tote had a shipping label with the restaurant’s address but the name of someone who did not work there. Employees who opened it saw what they thought looked like drugs, so they contacted police, Cougle said.The crate from Arizona that arrived in the Maine town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Portland was taken to the police department, where a chemical field examination confirmed it contained fentanyl.About an hour later, the man whose name was on the shipment showed up looking for the crate and was arrested, police said.Jeremy Mercie...

Some US states could see northern lights again Sunday: Here's where

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - A handful of states may again have the chance to see the northern lights, just a week after strong solar activity brought the auroras as far south as Alabama.Last week, a coronal mass ejection and a minor solar flare sparked a geomagnetic storm watch and northern lights “visible as far south as Alabama and northern California,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are explosions of plasma and magnetic material from the Sun that can reach Earth in as little as 15 to 18 hours, NOAA explains. Slower CMEs, like the one behind last week's activity, can take days to impact us.While both solar flares and CMEs (which can occur at the same time) can impact navigation, communication and radio signals on Earth, CMEs are also able to create a stunning show in the night sky. According to NASA, CMEs can create currents in Earth’s magnetic fields that send particles to the North and South Poles. When those particles interact wit...

Virginia doctor accused of massive illegal oxycodone scheme

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:38 GMT

ARLINGTON, Va. (WRIC) -- A Virginia doctor was indicted on 21 counts of illegally distributing oxycodone as part of a conspiracy with her office manager that lasted a decade.In an extensive indictment, prosecutors laid out allegations that Dr. Kirsten Van Steenberg Ball, 68, was the source of opioids that flooded Northern Virginia, allegedly conspiring with her office manager, Candie Calix, to distribute them to addicts.Calix, 40, was herself sentenced to seven years in prison in September 2022 for her role in the scheme. From 2012 to 2022, Calix alone, as a patient of Ball, was prescribed 40,000 30-mg oxycodone pills."Calix did not, however, function as a typical office manager," prosecutors wrote. "Instead, Calix recruited individuals -- including Calix's mother, Kendall Sovereign, and several other members of Calix's family -- to become 'patients' of Ball."According to the indictment, Calix even paid for Dr. Ball's malpractice insurance. 6 gallons of ‘coma in a bottle’ stopped ...