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Alabama lawmakers are divided on eve of major redistricting deadline impacting Black voters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — On the eve of a court deadline, Alabama lawmakers are still divided Thursday over the map designating new congressional districts and sparred over what constitutes an “opportunity” district that the state was ordered to create for Black voters. Republican-controlled committees in the House of Representatives and Senate continue to advance separate plans that increase the number of Black voters in the state’s 2nd congressional district but fail to establish the second majority-Black district, as sought by plaintiffs who won the Supreme Court case last month.Under the state Senate plan, the number of Black voters in the 2nd congressional district would increase from about 30% to 38%; under the House plan, it would increase to 42%. “We believe it does meet the Voting Rights (Act) standard because we followed all the guidelines. As an opportunity district, nobody knows what the definition of opportunity is. They didn’t give us (a definition),” Sen. Steve Livingst...

Las Vegas police took laptops, documents from home searched in Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A home that Las Vegas police searched this week in connection with the 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur is tied to a man long known to investigators, whose nephew had emerged as a suspect shortly after the rapper’s killing.The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed it served a search warrant Monday in the neighboring city of Henderson. But the department hasn’t released other details, including whether they expect to make an arrest for the first time in the slaying of the rapper nearly 30 years ago.Public records, including voting records, link the property to the wife of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a self-described “gangster” and the uncle of Orlando Anderson, one of Shakur’s known rivals who authorities have long suspected in the rapper’s death. Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s killing at the time, and died two years later in an unrelated gang shooting in Compton, California.A copy of the warrant obtained Thursday by The Associated ...

Netanyahu visit to Canada ‘not on the table,’ says PM Trudeau

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is not currently planning to join the American president in inviting his Israeli counterpart for a visit.“We remain steadfast friends of Israel, but every now and then we do have to point out where we disagree,” Trudeau told reporters Thursday.Trudeau is slated to speak with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon, after months of strain between the two countries.Canada has expressed concern over the past year about rising violence and ajudicial reform that Ottawa argues would undermine democracy in the Jewish state. Trudeau said that reform should only be made with widespread support of Israeli society, which has protested the proposal repeatedly in large demonstrations. The plan would allow Israel’s parliament to overturn decisions by the country’s Supreme Court.“We’re also very concerned about the judicial reforms that the Israeli government is determined to move forward with,” ...

Host Ginella Massa departs CBC’s ‘Canada Tonight’ weeknight news program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

TORONTO — Ginella Massa says she is not returning this fall as host of CBC News Network’s weeknight show “Canada Tonight with Ginella Massa.” Massa says that after nine months of maternity leave she has decided to pursue personal projects and build her brand through media consulting, partnerships and public speaking engagements.Massa announced her plans on her social media accounts, explaining that giving birth has been “transformative” and made her contemplate what success means to her. Massa says it’s been “an honour” to be the first woman in a hijab to host a national newscast in Canada, and hopes her mainstream success will inspire other Muslim women.  The news veteran also said she’s joining Toronto Metropolitan University as a part-time journalism instructor.Before joining CBC, Massa worked as a journalist for CityNews in Toronto and CTV News in Kitchener, Ont. She was named the host of her own CBC show in 2020. This report...

Biden administration asks employers to give more help to workers who lose Medicaid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

The Biden administration on Thursday asked employers to give workers who lose Medicaid coverage more time to sign up for health insurance through their jobs.Medicaid is the state- and federally funded program that covers health care costs for people with low incomes. States have resumed checks for Medicaid eligibility this year after pausing the practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.Federal officials have estimated that about 3.8 million people who lose Medicaid coverage may qualify for health insurance through their employers, which is how most people in the U.S. get coverage.Employers typically give people 60 days to sign up for coverage offered through work after they lose Medicaid. The administration’s letter Thursday asked employers, insurers and plan sponsors to voluntarily extend that window to July 31, 2024.The letter notes that people on Medicaid may miss notices that their coverage is ending, and they might not realize this until they visit a doctor.People shopping f...

New US sanctions are aimed at choking off Russia’s access to battlefield supplies and revenue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on roughly 120 firms and people from Russia to the United Arab Emirates to Kyrgyzstan in an effort to choke off Moscow’s access to products, money and financial channels that support its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions imposed by the Treasury and State departments target dozens of Russian mining, technology and munitions firms and commercial banks. In addition, a group of Kyrgyzstan-based electronics firms and its leadership were targeted as exporters of components and other technology to Russia. A UAE-based engineering company that sent dozens of shipments of electronics to Russia was also sanctioned. The latest sanctions build on those imposed on Russia when the U.S. and other Group of Seven nations rolled out a wave of global actions during a Japan summit in May.“Since Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States, working with our allies and partners, has taken unprecedented steps ...

Israel’s Netanyahu doubles down on judicial plan, rejects criticism and moves ahead toward key vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to press ahead with his contentious judicial overhaul, despite unprecedented mass protests at home, growing defections by military reservists and appeals from the U.S. president to put the plan on hold.Netanyahu’s message, delivered in a prime time address on national television, set the stage for stepped-up street protests in the coming days leading up to a fateful vote on Monday. Thousands of people marched through central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, while others continued the roughly 70 kilometer (roughly 45 mile) march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Netanyahu was at times conciliatory during his address, saying he understands the differences of opinion that have bitterly divided the country and offering to seek a compromise with his political opponents.But he was also defiant, saying his opponents were bent on toppling him and lashing out at the scores of military reservists who say they will stop reporting...

Ottawa working to prevent further wildfire tragedy after deaths: environment minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the federal government is doing everything it can to prevent further tragedy after four recent wildfire-related deaths.On Thursday, a helicopter involved with firefighting operations crashed in northwestern Alberta, killing a pilot. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he was “heartbroken to hear that another Canadian fighting wildfires has lost their life.” Adam Yeadon, 25, also died last week while fighting a wildfire near Fort Liard, N.W.T. Family members have said he was injured by a tree, but officials have not yet provided details about what happened.Two days earlier, firefighter Devyn Gale, 19, died after a tree fell on her near Revelstoke, B.C. Her death is now under investigation by police, the BC Coroners Service, WorkSafeBC and the BC Wildfire Service.“Our thoughts go out to the family, friends and loved ones of the two firefighters who’ve lost their lives,” Guilbeault told re...

Quebec police looking for Ukrainian refugee missing after going for swim in river

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

MONTREAL — A Ukrainian refugee who recently arrived in Quebec has gone missing after he went swimming in a river southeast of Quebec City.Laura Torres, who works with a group that helps immigrants settle into the region, says the young man had fled the war in Ukraine and arrived in Quebec this month.Torres says she was with the man’s mother on Wednesday when the woman called police about her missing son.Quebec provincial police say they are looking for a man in his 20s who disappeared after going for a swim in a river in St-Anselme, Que., but they have not confirmed his identity.Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu says police received a call around midnight from family members who were concerned that he had not returned.Beaulieu says police searched the riverbanks early this morning with the help of local firefighters, adding that they were joined by divers and a helicopter later in the day.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2023. The Canadian Press

Pioneering hacker Kevin Mitnick, FBI-wanted felon turned security guru, dead at 59

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:55 GMT

Kevin Mitnick, whose pioneering antics tricking employees in the 1980s and 1990s into helping him steal software and services from big phone and tech companies made him the most celebrated U.S. hacker, has died at age 59.Mitnick died Sunday in Las Vegas after a 14-month battle with pancreatic cancer, said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of the security training firm KnowBe4, where Mitnick was chief hacking officer. His colorful career — from student tinkerer to FBI-hunted fugitive, imprisoned felon and finally respected cybersecurity professional, public speaker and author tapped for advice by U.S. lawmakers and global corporations — mirrors the evolution of society’s grasp of the nuances of computer hacking. Through Mitnick’s professional trajectory, and what many consider the misplaced prosecutorial zeal that put him behind bars for nearly five years until 2000, the public has learned how to better distinguish serious computer crime from the mischievious troublemaking of youths he...