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Trump set for first public appearances since federal indictment with speeches to GOP conventions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday is set to make his first public appearances since his federal indictment, speaking to friendly Republican audiences in Georgia and North Carolina as he tries to rally supporters to his defense.Trump, who remains the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination despite his mounting legal woes, is expected to use speeches at two state party conventions to rail against the charges and amplify his assertions that he is the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt” by Democratic President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.The indictment unsealed Friday charged him with 37 felony counts in connection with his hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump is accused of willfully defying Justice Department demands to return classified documents, enlisting aides in his efforts to hide the records and even telling his lawyers that he wanted to defy a subpoena for the materials stored at his residence. T...

Kamaia, a sick lion at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo, received blood from brother to help doctors determine cause of health issues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

The circle of life is taking place at Franklin Park Zoo.Kamaia, a 14-year-old lion that zoo officials say is “severely anemic,” received blood from his brother, Dinari, during a transfusion done Friday to help determine the cause of his ongoing health issues.Part of the 3-hour procedure included doctors removing Kamaia’s spleen, which zoo officials determined to be “massively enlarged — at least twice the size it should be.”“We are hopeful that he will be feeling better very soon. This was a major surgery, and we will continue to monitor him closely to ensure that he is comfortable and recovering well,” said Dr. Chris Bonar, Zoo New England’s director of animal health.Dinari, also 14, on Thursday underwent a procedure to help his sick brother. The zoo’s veterinary team drew blood from Dinari to see if it was a match with Kamaia.“Blood transfusions are not often performed in zoological settings because it can difficult to find a suitable donor,” Bonar said. “Because Kamaia and his br...

Wink Martindale sets bar high for Giants rookie first-round corner Deonte Banks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

The excitement of landing Maryland corner Deonte Banks as the Giants’ first-round pick hasn’t worn off for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale since that viral draft night hug with GM Joe Schoen.“It was like winning a scratch-off ticket,” Martindale said Thursday at the practice facility.Corner is one of football’s most difficult positions, though, so it would be understandable if the Giants tempered expectations internally and were preparing for growing pains.It is rare that a corner takes the NFL by storm as a rookie like the Jets’ Sauce Gardner did last season. It is just as common that a young player can lose confidence when thrust prematurely into an unforgiving and isolated spotlight, such as the outside boundary of a blitz-heavy defense like the Giants’.And veteran Amani Oruwariye’s presence on the first-string defense ahead of Banks in early OTAs, which had conflicted with Banks’ college graduation, initially gave life ...

Decriminalize magic mushrooms, say Democrats who have filed bills to loosen psilocybin law in Massachusetts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

Any person 18 years or older could grow, eat, or share magic mushrooms under legislation pending on Beacon Hill that supporters say will offer residents another option to treat mental health and addiction disorders.Six communities in Massachusetts have already directed their police departments to not make arrests for possession of psilocybin, a move that effectively decriminalizes the use of the drug. Advocates now argue the lawmakers should pass bills from a pair of Democrats that decriminalize so-called magic mushrooms on a statewide level.“It’s ridiculous that a plant medicine we’ve been using for tens of thousands of years that grows straight from the ground that … has the lowest harms of any controlled substance, far less than alcohol and cigarettes that we buy at corner stores, is not available to people who could really benefit,” said James Davis, a former Beacon Hill staffer who now runs Bay State for Natural Medicine.Rep. Lindsay Sabadossa and Sen. Pat Jehlen fi...

Taunton West Little League umpires say they won’t call any more games, but city officials hope that stance changes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

An entrance sign at the Taunton Western Little League complex advertises an end-of-season celebration, but before that good time arrives, the last stretch of the playoffs will be played without umpires.The Greater Taunton Amateur Baseball Umpire Association has “overwhelmingly voted to suspend further officiating services to the league” after unruly fans harassed a pair of game officials, allegedly threatening them with violence.City Councilor Chris Coute has hope that the umpires will switch their minds after he convened a meeting Friday with officials from the league, umpires union and Mayor Shaunna O’Connell.“Both organizations came with open minds and I think in good spirits,” Coute told the Herald Friday afternoon. “We had a very productive meeting, and we are hoping the end result is we end up with umpires back at Taunton West Little League in the very near future.”If the umpires don’t return, coaches would assume officiating, Coute said, adding he believes that’s the way it’s...

The wettest June in San Diego history: A look back at Hurricane Boris

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The remnants of Hurricane Boris created weather conditions that went down in San Diego County history.According to the National Weather Service, heavy rains and thunderstorms swept the region in early June of 1990 as the tropical storm brought with it "a moist unstable air mass."Weather officials say Boris started as a "tropical wave" off the coast of Africa on May 20, 1990. 5 things to do in San Diego’s desert areas to escape ‘June Gloom’ NWS describes a "tropical wave" as an elongated area of relatively low pressure (an inverted trough) or cyclonic curvature that moves east to west across the tropics. This type of topical weather condition can lead to the formation of a tropical cyclone, which NWS says is also known as an "easterly wave."That's exactly what happened in 1990 as Boris spent half a month drifting across the Atlantic and East Pacific oceans before ultimately developing into a hurricane in early June 1990, just off the west coast of Mexico. To be consid...

4 children, including a baby, survived a plane crash and 40 days alone in the Amazon jungle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Four Indigenous children survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive by Colombian soldiers, bringing a happy ending to a search-and-rescue saga that captivated a nation but also prompted questions about their extraordinary survival. Officials in the South American country announced their rescue Friday, following days of highs and lows as searchers frantically combed through the rainforest hunting for the youngsters, members of the Huitoto people and aged 13, 9 and 4 years and 11 months. As the children received treatment Saturday at a hospital in the capital, Bogota, authorities were yet to explain how the siblings endured their time alone in the remote area. Earlier, officials had said the oldest children had some knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest.President Gustavo Petro celebrated the news upon returning from Cuba, where he signed a cease-fire with representatives of the...

Rome holds LGBTQ+ Pride parade amid backdrop of Meloni government crackdown on surrogate births

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

ROME (AP) — Rome’s annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade wound its way through the Italian capital on Saturday, providing a colorful counterpoint to the national government’s crackdown on surrogate pregnancies and same-sex parents. About three dozen floats joined the event, including one celebrating what LGBTQ+ activists dub the “rainbow families” of same-sex couples with children. Earlier this year, the government headed by far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni told municipal officials, when recording births, to register only the biological parent, and not the other parent in a same-sex couple.Among those defying that order was Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, who came to the parade a day after he said he transcribed “with emotion and conviction,” the birth certificates of children who had been born abroad to same-sex couples.Gualtieri said he had registered the birth certificates of a boy, born in France, whose parents are an Italian woman and a French woman, and of a girl, born in England, whose pa...

A fight for ‘the future of us all’: Trudeau commits another $500M to help Ukraine military

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

Canada will spend $500 million to help Ukraine’s military fight Russia’s invasion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday in Kyiv, where he told the country’s parliament they are in a battle for “the future of us all.”“You are the tip of the spear that is determining the future of the 21st century,” Trudeau said during a 25-minute speech before a special session of the national legislature, known as the Verkhovna Rada.Pledging more weapons and fighter-pilot training for Ukraine, Trudeau alsotold the lawmakers that Canada will support their country’s bid for membership in the NATO military alliance.“We want peace on Ukrainian terms,” he said. “Russia must completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from Ukraine.”Trudeau received several standing ovations in his speech, and a warm embrace from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Two legislators were holding Canadian flags.“...

Liberal government leaves door open for public inquiry on foreign interference

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:14 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is leaving the door open for a public inquiry into foreign interference, but it wants federal opposition parties to work together to come up with its terms of reference. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc says the opposition parties should be able to collaborate on the issue because they have demonstrated the ability to do so in the past few months. That includes coming together to pass a non-binding motion in the House of Commons calling for David Johnston to step down from his role as special rapporteur investigating foreign interference.Johnston agreed on Friday to resign by the end of the month, citing the highly partisan atmosphere around his work. LeBlanc is tasked with consulting experts and opposition parties on the next steps, whether those involve continuing the work Johnston started or holding a public inquiry as opposition members have long been demanding. He says he wants them to come with a list of people that could lead ...