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Mass. lawmakers do not reach deal on shelter funding in $2.8B spending bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

Massachusetts lawmakers did not reach a deal Wednesday night, or even early Thursday, on a $2.8 billion spending bill that shuttles hundreds of millions to state shelters for homeless and migrant families, leaving in limbo crucial funding for temporary housing as winter quickly sets in.After the House and Senate found themselves in disagreement this week over how many guardrails to put on $250 million for the Healey administration to respond to the shelter crisis, top Democrats did not produce a compromise by the time formal sessions drew to a close for a holiday break.As midnight hit in Massachusetts, the Senate voted to meet into Thursday. But the House did not attempt to keep going with 20 minutes until 1 a.m Thursday, instead moving to appoint three lawmakers to a formal negotiating committee and adjourning to meet next Monday in an informal session.Legislators on Beacon Hill can still attempt to advance the bill during their holiday break but could run into issues as any one la...

Texas inmate faces execution for 2001 abduction and strangulation of 5-year-old girl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas inmate convicted of strangling a 5-year-old girl taken from an El Paso store and then burning her body nearly 22 years ago is scheduled for execution Thursday evening.David Renteria, 53, was condemned for the November 2001 death of Alexandra Flores. Prosecutors said that Alexandra was Christmas shopping with her family at a Walmart store when she was abducted by Renteria. Her body was found the next day in an alley 16 miles (26 km) from the store.Renteria has long claimed that members of the Barrio Azteca gang, including one named “Flaco,” forced him to take the girl by making threats to his family — and that it was the gang members who killed her.Authorities say Renteria’s lawyers did not raise this defense at his trial and evidence in the case shows that he committed the abduction and killing alone. Prosecutors said that blood found in Renteria’s van matched the slain girl’s DNA. His palm print was found on a plastic bag that was put over her head before her...

Alabama to execute man for 1993 slaying of friend’s father during robbery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate scheduled to be put to death Thursday by lethal injection for the shooting death of his friend’s father urged young people to take a pause before making life-altering mistakes.Alabama is scheduled to execute Casey McWhorter, 49, for the Feb. 18, 1993, death of Edward Lee Williams, 34. Prosecutors said McWhorter, who was three months past his 18th birthday at the time of the killing, conspired with two younger teens, including Williams’ 15-year-old son, to steal money and other items from Williams’ home and then kill him. The jury that convicted McWhorter recommended a death sentence by a vote of 10-2, which a judge, who had the final decision, imposed, according to court records. The younger teens Edward Lee Williams Jr. and Daniel Miner, who was 16, were sentenced to life in prison, according to court records. Prosecutors said McWhorter and Miner went to Williams’ home with rifles and fashioned homemade silencers from a pillow and a...

Los Angeles criticized for its handling of homelessness after 16 homeless people escape freeway fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The fire erupted after midnight where 16 people were living under the Los Angeles freeway, including a pregnant woman who was only weeks from giving birth.As the flames engulfed the storage yard and the inferno’s heat melted some of the thoroughfare’s steel guardrails and concrete pillars, rescue crews were able to get everyone out safely. But the disaster has brought renewed criticism over officials’ inability to get homeless residents off the street, leaving tens of thousands living in perilous locations across the nation’s second-largest city.Three years ago, as part of a court order related to a yearslong lawsuit accusing the city and county of Los Angeles of not doing enough to address homelessness, a judge wrote he was concerned about 7,000 people living under freeways, calling it “unreasonably dangerous.” County supervisor Hilda Solis said officials have since set aside nearly $300 million to create 6,700 shelter beds, but rows of te...

Blaze at a coal mine company building in northern China kills 19 and injures dozens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A fire burned in a coal company building early Thursday in a northern Chinese city, killing 19 people and injuring a few dozen more.The building belongs to Yongju Coal Company and is in Lvliang city in northern Shanxi province, a major coal-producing region, according to state broadcaster CCTV. District officials issued a statement saying rescue and emergency services were at the scene. They evacuated 63 people, though it is unclear if the 19 dead were among that figure, according to the CCTV report. The blaze appeared to be in a building with offices and dormitories and not where coal was being mined.Coal mine accidents are not uncommon in China, though the government has been working on improving safety.___AP researcher Wanqing Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.The Associated Press

California’s first lesbian Senate leader could make history again if she runs for governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The first time Toni Atkins acted as the governor of California, she used her powers to honor the passing of San Diego Padres baseball player Tony Gwynn while playfully rebuffing Jimmy Kimmel’s advice that she “ invade Oregon. ”It was 2014, and Atkins — the first lesbian to be the speaker of the state Assembly — was filling in for former Gov. Jerry Brown, a quirk of the California Constitution that requires governors to put someone else in charge whenever they leave the state.Atkins, now the president pro tempore of the state Senate, has filled in as governor a few more times since then, most recently in July when she signed three bills into law and quipped that she was thrilled to once again step into the governor’s shoes, “ although I have better shoes. ”Now, the 61-year-old lawmaker is turning her attention once again to the governor’s office — only this time, she’s exploring a much longer stay.“I’m very interested in looking at that possibility” of runni...

The odyssey of asylum-seekers and the failure of EU regulations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

SALERNO, Italy (AP) — Less than 24 hours after setting foot on the pier of a southern Italian port, 60 people who’d survived a perilous boat journey from Libya were served with expulsion orders. Some came from Bangladesh, others from Syria and Egypt. They’d been at sea for 10 hours in two dangerously overcrowded boats, carrying 258 people in all, when they were picked up by a rescue ship operated by the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Libyan coast, on Oct. 6. Once on dry ground in Salerno, just south of Naples, they were taken to a migrant processing center and asked to sign papers. Now they gathered in front of the train station, tired and bewildered. “Did you know what you were signing?” asked a volunteer from the Catholic charity Caritas. “No, no,” they replied in unison. “Did somebody ask you if you want to apply for international protection?” the volunteer asked. Again they replied, “No.”LACK OF INFORMATIONThe situation is common fo...

Biden promises a better economic relationship with Asia, but he’s specifically avoiding a trade deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nurturing economic ties this week with Asia, but he’s not signing any trade deals at a regional summit in San Francisco.This fact — no trade deals — reveals a lot about the status of U.S. politics, the evolving global economy and the Biden administration’s own ambitions. U.S. negotiators say they’re progressing on finalizing agreements with 13 other countries on parts of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The operative word is “framework” as that label allows Biden to bypass Congress in reaching agreements in IPEF (pronounced EYE-pef).“It’s a framework because the administration wanted to have something it could do by executive agreement,” said Robert Holleyman, a former deputy U.S. trade representative.Many U.S. voters have negative opinions about trade deals that they see as having caused industrial job loss, a prevailing sentiment in the 2016 presidential election that carries over to the upcoming 2024 race....

Autoworkers to wrap up voting on contract with General Motors Thursday in a race too close to call

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — In a tight vote, thousands of United Auto Workers members at General Motors are expected to finish casting ballots Thursday on a tentative contract agreement that could be a giant step toward ending a prolonged labor dispute with Detroit’s Big Three automakers.The outcome of the GM vote is uncertain, despite the UAW’s celebrations of victories last month on many key demands that led to six weeks of targeted walkouts against GM, Ford and Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles. The union is expected to announce GM results Thursday.The three contracts, if approved by 146,000 union members, would dramatically raise pay for autoworkers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into a 33% wage gain. Top assembly plant workers would earn roughly $42 per hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028. Voting continues at Ford through early Saturday, where 66.1% of workers voted in favor so far with only a few large factories sti...

Fresh off meeting with China’s Xi, Biden is turning his attention to Asia-Pacific economies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:40 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fresh off his meeting with the leader of China, President Joe Biden on Thursday will address CEOs grappling with the risks to their businesses from world crises and spend time trying to persuade other Indo-Pacific leaders that the U.S. is committed to nurturing economic ties throughout the region.“We’ve got a few busy days ahead of us,” Biden said during a welcome reception, ticking off a list of concerns and challenges for the leaders to examine. “Our strongest tools to meet those challenges remain the same … connection, cooperation, collective action and common purpose.” Biden is courting world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and through his administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a group that includes most of the 21 APEC member economies, and a few others, like India, that aren’t members of the larger forum. The president will also pose for the traditional “family photo” with APEC leaders, host a working lun...