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Defense Secretary Austin hospitalized due to complications after minor procedure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

By LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday, due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Friday. It was the department’s first acknowledgement that Austin had been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.Ryder said Friday that it’s not clear when Austin will be released from the hospital, but said the secretary is “recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today.”He said that this has been an “evolving situation,” and due to privacy and medical issues the department did not make Austin’s absence public.In a statement, Ryder said that at all times, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks “was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required.”Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military, retiring as a four...

A group representing TikTok, Meta and X sues Ohio over new law limiting kids’ use of social media

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

By JULIE CARR SMYTH (Associated Press)COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies sued Ohio on Friday over a pending law that requires children to get parental consent to use social media apps. The law was part of an $86.1 billion state budget bill that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law in July. It’s set to take effect Jan. 15. The administration pushed the measure as a way to protect children’s mental health, with Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted saying at the time that social media was “intentionally addictive” and harmful to kids. The NetChoice trade group filed its lawsuit against GOP Attorney General Dave Yost in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. It seeks to block the law from taking effect.The litigation argues that Ohio’s law — which requires social media companies to obtain a parent’s permission for children under 16 to sign up for social me...

Massachusetts braces for nor’easter, up to a foot of snow, flash freeze, power outages: Will there be space savers in Boston?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

The biggest winter storm in years is nearly on our doorstep.Bay Staters are making their final preparations for this weekend’s nor’easter, as the region braces for up to 12 inches of snow and possible power outages.A “Winter Storm Warning” has been issued for much of Massachusetts — the northeastern, central and western areas — from Saturday evening to Sunday night.“That’s where our confidence is pretty high for 6 to 12 inches of snow,” Kyle Pederson, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s office, told the Herald after NWS Boston issued the warning on Friday.A “Winter Storm Watch” has been issued for the Boston to Providence corridor.“That’s where we have medium confidence in 6-plus inches,” Pederson said. “There’s a chance for rain mixing in there.”Forecasters are warning that travel will be hazardous from Saturday evening to Sunday night.Snow is expected to overspre...

Supreme Court allows Idaho to enforce its strict abortion ban, even in medical emergencies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

By MARK SHERMAN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Idaho to enforce its strict abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, while a legal fight continues.The justices said they would hear arguments in April and put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked the Idaho law in hospital emergencies, based on a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration. The Idaho case gives the court its second major abortion dispute since the justices in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to severely restrict or ban abortion. The court also in the coming months is hearing a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s rules for obtaining mifepristone, one of two medications used in the most common method of abortion in the United States. In the case over hospital emergencies, the Biden administration has argued that hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required by federal law to provide emergency care, potentially including abortion, ...

Liz Cheney urges New Hampshire primary voters to take a stand against GOP ‘cowardice’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — On a mission to keep former President Donald Trump from returning to the White House, Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney implored New Hampshire voters Friday to use their upcoming presidential primary to send a message to the world.“Speak for us all. Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great nation,” she said at Dartmouth College a little over two weeks before the Jan. 23 primary. “But make sure they know that we do not bend, we do not break and we do not yield in the defense of our freedom. Show the world that we will defeat the plague of cowardice sweeping through the Republican party.”Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, had been a leading Republican voice for years. But she parted with many of her colleagues over Trump’s false claims of voting fraud and her position as vice chair of the Congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.On Friday, the Supreme Court said i...

Radio reporter fired over comedy act reinstated after an arbitrator finds his jokes ‘funny’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

A reporter who was fired for his standup comedy has been reinstated to his job at a Philadelphia-based public radio station through an arbitrator, who agreed that his jokes were, in some part, funny.Jad Sleiman, 34, is to be fully reinstated to his position with WHYY, a Philadelphia-based NPR station, after an arbitrator determined that, while the bits posted to social media could be interpreted as “inflammatory,” the organization “rushed to judgment” in its decision to terminate him.In a phone call Friday, Sleiman said he felt vindicated by the decision and plans to return to work.“When a news organization says you’re a racist, bigot, whatever, people believe them,” he said. “So it was a lot of abuse from a lot of people who have never met me, who’ve never seen my stand-up just saw what WHYY said about me, which is not great.”A message seeking comment emailed to WHYY was not immediately returned. Sleiman said he was considering further legal action for statements made by WHYY about...

Nigel Lythgoe stepping aside as ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ judge after sexual assault allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — TV producer Nigel Lythgoe said Friday that he is stepping aside as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” after lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, including one from Paula Abdul.Lythgoe is also co-creator and executive producer of the Fox dance competition series, whose 18th season is set to start in March. “I have informed the producers of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ of my decision to step back from participating in this year’s series,” Lythgoe said in a statement. “I did so with a heavy heart but entirely voluntarily because this great program has always been about dance and dancers, and that’s where its focus needs to remain. In the meantime, I am dedicating myself to clearing my name and restoring my reputation.”The 74-year-old English-born Lythgoe has been a prominent TV producer for decades in both the U.K. and the U.S., working on reality competition shows including “American Idol.”The singer and dancer Abdul alleged in a lawsuit filed Dec. 30...

Church says priest who married teen has been defrocked

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A Catholic priest who married a teenager after leaving the country with her this summer has been removed from the priesthood, church officials announced Friday.The Archdiocese of Mobile announced in a statement that Alex Crow is no longer a member of the clergy. The church said that Crow requested that he be removed from the priesthood.The relationship between priest and teen drew international attention this summer. Authorities in south Alabama said Crow left the country in late July with an 18-year-old woman who was a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. Crow did not teach at the school but visited theology classes and heard confession there, news outlets reported.Church officials said Friday they received a letter from Pope Francis confirming that Crow’s defrocking, a process known as laicization, has been completed.“I pray that this decision is one more way in which we can all move toward peace after these unsettling events. I continue to pr...

Prosecutors: Mother charged after 14-year-old son overdoses on her fentanyl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. — A Round Lake Beach mother is facing felony charges after prosecutors said her 14-year-old son overdosed on her drugs, according to court proceedings Friday.New details came to light in a death investigation after prosecutors laid out their case in court Friday afternoon. Prosecutors alleged 45-year-old Cara Ullrich (pronounced 'Uul-rick') was staying at her ex-husband's home with her 13 and 14-year-old sons Wednesday morning, when her 14-year-old son died of a drug overdose from fentanyl and cocaine, which prosecutors said were in her possession.When police arrived, prosecutors said Ullrich hid in the bathroom of the home, and tried to run away. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Round Lake Beach woman arrested, charged after juvenile male’s death in McHenry County Ullrich was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of endangering the health or life of a child after being arrested by McHenry County Sheriff's deputies Thursday.She also ...

Skilling: Snowy, wet weekend ahead for Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:00 GMT

Friday marked the 16th consecutive above normal day---a day which  has recorded 83% of its possible sun.Today's above normal temps (the day is likely to average 6-deg above normal) means January's opening 5 days have come in close to 7-deg milder than last year and over 5-deg ABOVE NORMAL---mild enough to rank among the 28% warmest January opens in 153 years of records.BUT BIG CHANGES LOOM—including 3 shots at sticking snow in the coming week—the first of them— just hours away, likely to commence in the city between 11 pm and 1am then continue quite steadily through the lunch hour Saturday and then occasionally inro early Saturday night. Temps above freezing mean some drizzle may mix in Saturday afternoon and night.The system behind our first snow is to spin up into a winter storm and bring the first major snow of the season to portions of the Mid-Atlantic states away from the coast and to New England, where Boston may be among the areas with a significant accumulation—per...