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N. Carolina justices hand GOP big win with election rulings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In massive victories for Republicans, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday threw out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased. The rulings likely give the GOP-controlled legislature the ability to rework the state’s congressional map for next year’s election to help Republicans gain seats in the narrowly divided U.S. House. Under the previous map, Democrats won seven of the state’s 14 congressional seats last November. The new edition of the court, which became a Republican majority this year following the election of two GOP justices, ruled after taking the unusual step of revisiting opinions made in December by the court’s previous iteration, when Democrats held a 4-3 seat advantage. The court held rehearings in March. Friday’s 5-2 rulings also mean that state lawmakers should have greater latitude in drawing General Assembly seat b...

Politicians tell Forest Service: Do more to fight wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Lawmakers from several western states want the U.S. Forest Service to do more to address a wildfire crisis that they say will surely destroy more landscapes, communities and livelihoods as long-term drought persists around the West. They grilled Forest Service Chief Randy Moore during a congressional hearing this week, asking about the agency’s spending priorities and the backlog of national forest lands that need to be treated to reduce wildfire risks. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Wisconsin Republican and chair of the House Natural Resources Committee’s panel on federal lands, said the agency needs to usher in a new phase of accountability and transparency if it wants “reverse the tide against this historic crisis.”Tiffany pointed to a yearslong restoration project that has struggled to treat wide swaths of land spanning four national forests in northern Arizona, saying the agency has reported more acres being treated than what regional managers have subm...

Guards on famed yacht open fire off Yemen; 1 reported killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Armed private guards aboard a famous yacht once owned by the late Welsh actor Richard Burton fired on approaching ships on Friday in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, in an intense gunfight. The authorities said the guards mistakenly opened fire on Yemeni Coast Guard members but the ship’s manager insisted they shot at pirates.The shooting reportedly killed one Yemeni Coast Guard member and wounded another person in a hail of gunfire — the guards are said to have shot as many as 200 rounds of ammunition. It shows the danger faced by both shippers and security forces in the waters off the Arab world’s poorest country, even as it remains crucial for global commerce. Details of what happened to the Kalizma remain unclear and contested, hours after the incident. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations initially reported it as an attack with gunfire off Nishtun, in Yemen’s far east near the border with Oman.Bu...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises at end of bumpy week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rising Friday, as the market winds down a week of sharp swerves with another batch of corporate profit reports that mostly topped expectations. The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in afternoon trading. Despites its big swings earlier this week, it’s still on track to close out April with a gain. Markets have been churning amid unanswered questions about where the economy and corporate profits are heading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 242 points, or 0.7%, at 34,067, as of 1:16 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.Exxon Mobil was doing some of the market’s heaviest lifting after it rose 1.9%. It reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than forecast. Intel gained 3.3% after reporting a milder loss than expected and stronger revenue for the latest quarter. Mondelez International, the food giant behind Oreo and Ritz, rose 4.4% after topping Wall Street’s estimates. It also raised its forecast for rev...

Report: Ryan Reynolds, Remington Group planning $1B bid for Senators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

Ryan Reynolds and the Remington Group led by real estate mogul Christopher Bratty are reportedly set to go all-in with their final bid for the Ottawa Senators.Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the group “is prepared to bid more than $1 billion to buy the Senators and the Canadian Tire Centre.”Garrioch had previously reported the deadline for the second and final round of bids for the team is May 15.Reynolds was very visible around the Senators in the final weeks of the season and also had meetings with Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe as well as the National Capital Commission — which owns the LeBreton Flats land being targeted for a new downtown arena.Garrioch adds that the team has met with seven potential ownership groups, and that Reynolds and Remington would speak with local investors about joining them if they are successful in their bid.

Audit: Marijuana-rich Oregon must prep for US legalization

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon should prepare for the U.S. government eventually legalizing marijuana and position the state, with its huge stockpiles of the drug, as a national leader in the industry, state auditors said Friday.Oregon, long known for its potent marijuana, would be competing with other pot-producing states — particularly California, which also has a vast oversupply — for the export market if marijuana is ever legalized nationally. “Now is the time for Oregon to prepare its system for a future when cannabis is legal nationally,” said a statement Friday from Oregon Deputy Secretary of State Cheryl Myers, whose office conducted the audit.A total of 21 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational use of marijuana, but activists see little chance of the current Congress moving toward national legalization. Still, there’s hope the Biden administration will allow pot commerce among states that have legalized it. The legislatures of Oregon and California have a...

Khris Davis took the hits to become ‘Big George Foreman’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

Khris Davis did not know who he was auditioning for when he first got the lines for an untitled project about a boxer. They didn’t even tell him it was based on a true story at first. But he liked that there was a character arc – it’s more than actors often get early in auditions.Somewhere along the way he began to piece it together. And then it clicked: Oh, this is George Foreman, he thought. The film, “Big George Foreman,” is now playing in theaters nationwide. It charts his path from impoverished youth to heavyweight champion, his crushing loss to Ali in Zaire that led him to give up boxing, all the way through his miraculous comeback to the sport at age 45. “A lot of people see George as the grill guy,” said director George Tillman Jr. “Some people see him as the boxer. I wanted to tell a story of things that you don’t know.”Tillman Jr. (“The Hate U Give”) had been searching for a while for the right actor. Some had the acting chops but not the size. Some had the size but not th...

EPA allows gasoline with higher ethanol blend during summer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Fuel stations throughout the country will be able to sell gasoline blended with 15% ethanol during the summer under an emergency waiver issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency in a move that could reduce prices at the pump and boost demand for the Midwest-based ethanol industry.The EPA framed its decision as a way to reduce gasoline prices at a time of market supply uncertainty because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agency said its action also encourages U.S. energy independence and supports American agriculture and manufacturing.“Allowing E15 sales during the summer driving season will not only help increase fuel supply, but support American farmers, strengthen U.S. energy security, and provide relief to drivers across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol and the higher 15% blend hasn’t been allowed in the summer because of concerns it...

Colorado governor signs gun control bills after massacre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s governor signed four gun control bills Friday, following the lead of other states struggling to confront a nationwide surge in violent crime and mass shootings, despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded Second Amendment rights. Before the ink was even dry on Gov. Jared Polis’ signature, gun rights groups sued to reverse two of the measures: raising the buying age for any gun from 18 to 21, and establishing a three-day waiting period between the purchase and receipt of a gun. The courts are already weighing lawsuits over such restrictions in other states. The new laws, which Democrats pushed through despite late-night filibusters from Republicans, are aimed at quelling rising suicides and youth violence, preventing mass shootings and opening avenues for gun violence victims to sue the long-protected firearm industry. They were enacted just months after a mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs. “Coloradoans deserve to be safe i...

Accidental overdose deaths tied to meth skyrocket in Travis County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:22:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The number of people who died of an accidental overdose in Travis County that had meth in their system went up more than 50 percent from 2021 to 2022, according to the Medical Examiner's report. Meth and fentanyl accounted for a majority of the drugs detected in accidental overdose deaths last year. Drug overdoses leading cause of Travis County accidental deaths in 2022 According to the report, 123 more people died of an accidental overdose in 2022 than the year prior with meth in their system at the time of death. Though an emphasis has been put on fentanyl by public officials, meth rivaled the increase in fentanyl-related deaths year-over-year. Accidental overdose deaths in 2022, according to the Medical Examiner's report (Courtesy Travis County) There may be some overlap in the numbers, though. Accidental drug overdose death numbers "represent the number of cases in which each drug was detected. Because most deaths involve multiple drugs, the numbers do not ne...