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More than 100 killed in Congo flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — More than 100 people were killed in flooding and landslides brought on by torrential overnight rains in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, a local official said Friday.Thomas Bakenge, a regional government official gave the estimate after overseeing recovery efforts in the affected territory of Kalehe, calling the scale of destruction “enormous, beyond words … whole houses were carried away.” He said bodies were still being collected from the shores of the nearby Lake Kivu. Two rivers broke their banks after the heavy rains which began on Thursday evening and there have been multiple landslides with scores of homes destroyed, according to Delphin Birimbi, a community leader in the region. As bodies were pulled from the mud, some residents estimated that more than 75% of homes in the village of Nyamukubi have been carried away by the floods, along with school buildings and a health center.Official Thomas Bakenge called for immediate as...

Expelled GOP lawmaker fails to regain Arizona House seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Republican lawmaker Liz Harris who was previously expelled will not be sent back to the Arizona House of Representatives, Maricopa County officials announced Friday.The county’s Board of Supervisors instead selected Republican Julie Willoughby to replace her, despite Republican precinct committee members in her legislative district giving Harris the most votes.“In my discussions with Ms. Harris, she firmly believes her removal was improper and unlawful,” said Supervisor Jack Sellers, who represents an area that includes the legislative district. “This board was not a party to that process but must give weight to an action that over two-thirds of the House members voted in favor of.” Willoughby, an emergency room trauma nurse, teamed up with Harris in campaign ads and events during last year’s election. They had hoped to win both district seats, but Harris and Democratic Rep. Jennifer Pawlik emerged as the top two vote-getters.Harris was kicked out last mon...

Senator says RCMP must release evidence of alleged Chinese police stations in Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

MONTREAL — A Canadian senator is denouncing the stigmatization of two Montreal-area community organizations that have been accused by the RCMP of hosting secret Chinese government police stations.Independent Sen. Yuen Pau Woo told reporters today that the RCMP must come forward with evidence against these two groups.Woo made the comments during a news conference with members of Montreal’s Chinese community at the office of one of the groups targeted by the police, Service à la Famille Chinoise du Grand Montreal.In mid-March the RCMP said that the organization, along with Centre Sino-Quebec de la Rive-Sud, located on Montreal’s South Shore, hosted Chinese government agents who allegedly harassed members of the city’s Chinese community.Woo, an Independent senator representing British Columbia, says neither he nor the groups under RCMP investigation know the details of what they are being accused of.Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a parliamentary committee...

Maryland police: Attackers tried to shoot boy on school bus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Three masked attackers boarded a school bus in Maryland earlier this week and tried multiple times to shoot a boy, but the attack was foiled by a malfunctioning gun, police said. The bus stopped in Oxon Hill, a suburb of the nation’s capital, to drop off students just before 5 p.m. Monday, when three people believed to be juveniles got on and began to attack the boy, who had remained on the bus, Prince George’s County Police said in a news release. One attacker tried multiple times to shoot the boy, but detectives believe the gun malfunctioned, police said. The boy suffered minor injuries in the assault. A bus driver and bus aide were on the bus at the time and weren’t injured, police said. It’s unknown if any other students were on the bus. Police found ammunition on the bus. Police said they’re investigating the attackers’ motives. No suspects were in custody Friday and a reward of up to $2,500 is being offered in the case, police spok...

Kansas loses legal fight over voting law passed in 2021

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has lost a legal fight over one of the voting laws that its Republican-led Legislature passed in the wake of the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil ruled Thursday that it was unconstitutional to make it a crime for groups to include voter’s name, address and other information on advance ballot applications.Two national nonprofit groups, VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center, sued after two voting laws were passed in 2021 over the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. One of them included the restriction on prefilling ballots, even if the voter provided the information and requested an advance mail ballot application. The groups, whose mission is to promote voting among traditionally underserved groups, including young and minority voters, argued that there is a higher response rate when the group prefills the applications. Nearly 70,000 Kansas voters submitted an advance mail voting application provided by the Voter Participation Ce...

Denali National Park worker dies after triggering avalanche

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP) — A Denali National Park and Preserve employee died when he was caught in an avalanche while skiing in the backcountry, not far from the park’s entrance, officials said Friday.Eric Walter, who provided radio-based safety support and dispatch services for National Park Service operations across Alaska, died in the Thursday avalanche, the park said in a prepared statement.An individual told the park’s kennel staff that they saw a skier trigger an avalanche on an unnamed north-facing slope about 10 miles (16 kilometers) into the park, near the sprawling park’s only road.Responding rangers found an unoccupied truck parked about a mile away from the avalanche site. A ranger used a spotting scope to look for survivors in the avalanche debris.The ranger saw two skis, one vertical and the other lying flat on the surface, the statement said.The park’s mountaineering team, based in nearby Talkeetna, flew to the site on a contracted helicopt...

Supreme Court blocks Richard Glossip’s execution in Oklahoma

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Oklahoma from executing death row inmate Richard Glossip after the state’s attorney general agreed Glossip’s life should be spared.Glossip had been scheduled to be put to death on May 18 despite statements by new Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond that Glossip did not receive a fair trial.An Oklahoma appeals court subsequently upheld Glossip’s conviction and the state’s pardon and parole board deadlocked in a vote to grant him clemency.The high court put the execution on hold while it reviews the case. Justice Neil Gorsuch took no part in the case, presumably because he dealt with it earlier as an appeals court judge.The Associated Press

Vermont gun bill creating 72-hour waiting period passes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Legislature on Friday passed a bill that requires a 72-hour waiting period for the purchase of guns and includes other provisions aimed at reducing suicides and community violence. The Vermont House concurred with a Senate amendment by a vote of 106 to 34. But Republican Gov. Phil Scott “has significant concerns about the constitutionality of the waiting period provision,” his spokesman Jason Maulucci said Friday.The legislation also creates a crime of negligent firearms storage and expands the state’s extreme risk protection orders so that a state’s attorney, the attorney general’s office or a family or household member may ask a court to prohibit a person from purchasing, possessing or receiving a dangerous weapon.Supporters say it’s time to take action against gun violence and the rate of suicide in Vermont, which is higher than the national rate. Opponents say the bill violates the Second Amendment of the Constitution. A...

Maple Leafs’ Knies sidelined at least two games with concussion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

Add injury to insult.Not only did the Florida Panthers walk into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rink this week and steal two road games to seize a 2-0 series lead, but exciting rookie forward Matthew Knies is likely done of the series.Knies, 20, has been diagnosed with a concussion since getting taken down hard and headfirst to the ice by Panthers forward Sam Bennett during a tussle in the first period of Game 2.The left winger has been ruled out for games 3 (Sunday) and 4 (Wednesday) in Sunrise, Fla., and should be considered day-to-day beyond that.“I’d say unlikely to return to the series. We’ll give him some time to recover and see how that goes,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday.“Matthew has proven to improve the depth of our team, and we believe we’re a better team when he’s in. All that said, we were a very good team before he arrived on scene here. So, we’ll make some adjustments according, but we’ve got full confidence in our group.”Bennett was not penalized on the play, nor ...

Chicago officials launch summer safety plan ahead of Cinco de Mayo weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:37 GMT

CHICAGO — While many are looking forward to more spring-like weather and celebrating Cinco de Mayo, Chicago police and other emergency officials are working on a plan to keep people safe.City leaders are trying to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time Chicago saw a weekend of warm temperatures.On April 15, three teenagers were shot and more than a dozen people were arrested when a group of teens and young adults took over parts of downtown. Video showed young people jumping on cars and busses. A number of fights also broke out.Several aldermen said police were outnumbered and there was not sufficient leadership downtown to tell officers what to do. Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexican culture, not independence Days after the incident, the Chicago Police Department told city council members it would staff captains and lieutenants downtown and stage prisoner transport vans to act as a deterrent at different locations.Several pastors and others marched through downtown the weeken...