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Interior Department cancels remaining leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

By BECKY BOHRER (Associated Press)JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday canceled the remaining seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that were part of a sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration, angering state political leaders including Alaska’s Republican governor, who threatened to sue.Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that with her decision to cancel the remaining leases “no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth.” However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law.Haaland called climate change “the crisis of our lifetime, and we cannot ignore the disproportionate impacts being felt in the Arctic.” She defended the Biden’s administration’s record in addressing the changing climate.Wednesday’s announcement comes months after ...

An unholy mess

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

Grade: C minusShot in France using a real abandoned church, “The Nun II” has its Catholic credentials in order, and once again gives us a demonic nun bearing a weird resemblance to rock star Alice Cooper. The Catholic element is what gives these films some semblance of verisimilitude.Written by Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing of “The Autopsy of Jane Doe” and Akela Cooper of “MEGAN” fame, based on characters created by Gary Dauberman (“Annabelle Comes Home”) and the horror and action film phenomenon James Wan (“The Conjuring”), “The Nun II” is a sequel to “The Nun” (2018) and the ninth installment in “The Conjuring” universe.Now, I like nun movies as much as anyone (one of my favorites is Ken Russell’s still shocking 1971 horrorshow “The Devils”), and I bring a Catholic parochial school background to these films. Like its predecessor, “The Nun II,”  which is in essence a remake of the wildly successful (in spite of terrible reviews and audience scores) first film, borrows ...

Another person dies after being found unresponsive at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A 24-year-old man died at an Atlanta hospital after being found unresponsive at a jail that is already being investigated by federal authorities for potential civil rights violations.A Fulton County Jail officer found Shawndre Delmore during a routine check just before 8:30 p.m. Aug. 31, the county sheriff’s office said in a news release Wednesday. Jail staff attempted to revive Delmore until medical staff arrived, and he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he died Sept. 3, the release says.Delmore is the sixth person to die in Fulton County custody since the end of July. He was arrested April 1 by Atlanta police and was being held on $2,500 bond on a second-degree burglary charge. Atlanta police will investigate his death, and the county medical examiner will do an autopsy, the sheriff’s office said.The U.S. Department of Justice in July opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in the county, citing violence, filthy conditions and ...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appoints Moms for Liberty co-founder to state Commission on Ethics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a “parental rights” group that has sought to take over school boards in multiple states, to the Florida Commission on Ethics on Wednesday.Tina Descovich was named to the nine-member, Tallahassee-based commission, which investigates alleged breaches of public trust by elected and appointed officials, as well as state employees.Descovich was previously elected to the School Board of Brevard County in 2016 and served as president of the Florida Coalition of School Board Members. Moms for Liberty started with Descovich and two other Florida women fighting COVID-19 restrictions in 2021. It has quickly ascended as a national player in Republican politics, helped along the way by the group’s political training and close relationships with high-profile GOP groups and lawmakers.The group’s support for school choice and the “fundamental rights of parents” to direct their children’s education has ...

Phoenix on track to set another heat record, this time for most daily highs at or above 110 degrees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix, already the hottest large city in America, is poised to set yet another heat record this weekend while confirmed heat-associated deaths are on track for a record of their own. The National Weather Service says after a brief respite from the heat over the Labor Day holiday, Phoenix this weekend is expected to break its previous record of 53 days of 110-degree Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) weather in a single year, set in 2020. Afternoon weekend highs will range between 108-113 degrees Fahrenheit (42.4-45 Celsius) across Arizona’s lower deserts. “Remember to stay hydrated and avoid sun exposure from 10am to 6pm this weekend!” the weather service advised on social media. Phoenix has now seen 52 days of temperatures at or above 110 degrees in 2023 and is expected to hit that mark again on both Saturday and Sunday, when an extreme heat watch will be in effect, local meteorologists said. The temperature could also hit 110 degrees on Monday. The desert city set a ...

A judge orders Texas to move a floating barrier used to deter migrants to the bank of the Rio Grande

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to move a large floating barrier to the bank of the Rio Grande after protests from the the U.S. and Mexican governments over Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest tactic to stop migrants from crossing America’s southern border.The decision by U.S. District Judge David Ezra is a victory for President Joe Biden’s administration, which sued after Texas put the wrecking ball-sized buoys on the water in early July as part of a sprawling border security mission known as Operation Lone Star. The judge said the state must move the barrier by Sept. 15.The barrier threatens provisions of a treaty between U.S. and Mexico, wrote Ezra, who also cast doubt on its effectiveness. “The State of Texas did not present any credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration across the Rio Grande River,” Ezra wrote. Abbott said Texas would appeal. “Today’s court decision merely prolongs ...

Schools dismiss early, teach online as blast of heat hits northeastern US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

A blast of late summer heat caused disruptions Wednesday for schools from Michigan to Virginia, with some districts dismissing students early and others holding classes online just days into the new academic year.While temperatures weren’t as high as last month’s triple-digit deadly heat wave, schools in states including Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey cited inadequate air conditioning in cutting days short. One Massachusetts district canceled two days of classes because of hot classrooms. Temperatures in the mid-90s also led to online learning in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Only 20% of public schools in Detroit, where the temperature reached 89 degrees Tuesday but dropped Wednesday, have air conditioning. The district dismissed its roughly 54,000 students three hours early Wednesday for the second consecutive day.“We never want to inconvenience our families with early releases, but we also do not want our staff and students to be so uncomfortable that teaching and lea...

Daniil Medvedev beats the heat and Rublev to reach US Open semis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Daniil Medvedev advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals for the fourth time in five years, overcoming fellow Russian Andrey Rublev and hot, humid conditions Wednesday 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.Medvedev, the third seed and 2021 U.S. Open champion, appeared to be having breathing problems in the near 95-degree Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) heat, twice calling for a doctor on changeovers. But it didn’t seem to show in his play. Medvedev frequently traded long rallies with Rublev — 34 strokes being the longest — and scrambled for every shot. He ran nearly the length of the court to hit a winner off a drop shot in the final set to earn his first match point. Rublev saved that one and three more in an 18-point final game before finally succumbing on the fifth, with an exhausted forehand into the net.“The only good thing I see in these conditions is both suffer,” a sweat-drenched Medvedev said in his on-court interview in a partially closed Arthur Ashe Stadium. “Honestly at the end of the...

Felony convictions vacated for 4 Navy officers in sprawling scandal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The felony convictions of four Navy officers in a sprawling bribery case were vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino called the misconduct “outrageous” and agreed to allow the four men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine each. The officers on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a charge of destruction of government property, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.The officers — former Capts. David Newland, James Dolan and David Lausman and former Cmdr. Mario Herrera — were convicted in one of the worst bribery cases in recent history for the Navy that centered around a defense contractor nicknamed Fat Leonard.Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko, who was brought on after the four officers were tried last year, acknowledged to the judge that some of the allegations of misconduct were true though he did not say which ones. He said his office did not agree with all of the accusations.More than two dozen Navy offic...

Montana’s attorney general faces professional misconduct complaint. Spokeswoman calls it meritless

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:45 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s ultra-conservative attorney general has been accused of professional misconduct on allegations his office tried to undermine the state’s Supreme Court in defending a law that allows the Republican governor to fill judicial vacancies without the input of a long-standing commission that vets candidates.The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which regulates attorneys in Montana, filed the complaint against Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen on Tuesday.Knudsen or attorneys under his supervision “routinely and frequently undermined public confidence in the fairness and impartiality of our system of justice by attempting to evade the authority of the Montana Supreme Court and assaulting the integrity of the judiciary and the individual Justices who were duly elected by Montana citizens to make decisions,” special counsel Tim Strauch wrote in the complaint.The complaint called statements made by the attorney general’s office in court documents to b...