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Congress is eying immigration limits as GOP demands border changes in swap for Biden overseas aid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As record numbers of migrants surge at the southern U.S. border, many seeking asylum, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has told Congress the country’s “broken” immigration system is in need of a top-to-bottom update.But rather than undertake a comprehensive immigration overhaul, Congress is scrambling in a few short weeks for a deal that would greatly restrict the asylum and humanitarian parole process used by thousands to temporarily stay in the U.S. while their claims are being processed in the backlogged system.Pushed to the negotiating table by Republicans, the Biden administration is considering the long-shot effort as the price to be paid for the president’s $106 billion year-end request for Ukraine, Israel and national security needs. It comes as Mayorkas, the face of the administration’s immigration policy, bears down the threat of impeachment proceedings from House Republicans over what they view as failed border policies.“We’re n...

Opponents gave input on ballot language for abortion-rights measure, Ohio elections chief says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose consulted with three prominent anti-abortion groups while drafting the contested ballot language used to describe Issue 1, an abortion-rights measure overwhelmingly approved by voters earlier this month, cleveland.com reported Wednesday. The Republican elections chief and 2024 U.S. Senate candidate revealed having help with the wording while speaking at a Nov. 17 candidate forum hosted by the local Republican club Strongsville GOP, according to the news organization.The constitutional amendment’s backers blasted the ballot summary offered by LaRose, in his role as chair of the Ohio Ballot Board, as “rife with misleading and defective language” intended to encourage “no” votes. LaRose’s wording substituted “unborn child” for “fetus” and suggested the measure would limit “citizens of the State” from passing laws to restrict abortion access when it actually limited state government from doing so. The pro-...

Bernardo transfer should be ‘turning point’ on better informing victims: ombudsman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Three childhood friends say they were forced to relive the anguish and fear of losing Kristen French when Correctional Service Canada decided to transfer her killer to a medium-security prison. The women testified at a parliamentary committee today about how it felt to learn that Paul Bernardo was being moved out of his maximum-security prison in late May. Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life-sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.Benjamin Roebuck, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, says the legislation that governs the prison system “is failing victims of crime” as it places too many limits on what can be shared with victims. He told the committee that his office has been raising concerns about prison transfers since 2010, and he hopes that the Bernardo decision becomes a “turning point.”The correctional service concluded in...

Indiana judge dismisses state’s lawsuit against TikTok that alleged child safety, privacy concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana county judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state accusing TikTok of deceiving its users about the level of inappropriate content for children on its platform and the security of its consumers’ personal information.A pair of lawsuits filed in December 2022 accused the app of misleading its viewers — particularly children — alleging the app contains “salacious and inappropriate content” despite the company claiming it is safe for children 13 years and under. In the second complaint, the state argued that the app deceives consumers into believing their sensitive and personal information is secure. The lawsuits have since been consolidated. The latest hearing on the motion to dismiss was held in October.Judge Jennifer L. DeGroote of the Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne made the ruling.The dismissal is an apparent national first with similar lawsuits pending in Arkansas and Utah. In a written statement, a spokesperson for Atto...

Young activists who won Montana climate case want to stop power plant on Yellowstone River

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Fresh off a legal victory earlier this year in a landmark climate change case, a group of young environmental activists is trying to persuade the Montana Supreme Court to stop a natural gas power plant that’s being built on the banks of the Yellowstone River.The 16 activists said in a court brief filed Tuesday that the air quality permit for the plant near Laurel in south-central Montana should be declared invalid or at least suspended until the state’s appeal of their climate change case is decided. The brief was in support of two environmental groups that are challenging the permit.The activists prevailed in August in their yearslong lawsuit against the state for not doing enough to protect them from climate change. They claimed severe wildfires, flooding, drought and other problems spurred by warming temperatures violated their rights under the state constitution to a clean and healthful environment.A state policy, which the judge in the case decl...

Panama’s high court declares mining contract unconstitutional. Here is what happens next

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

Panama (AP) — In a historic ruling, Panama’s Supreme Court this week declared that legislation granting a Canadian copper mine a 20-year concession was unconstitutional, a decision celebrated by thousands of Panamanians activists who had argued the project would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies.The mine, which is now in the process of shutting down, has been an important economic engine for the country, employing thousands. But it also triggered massive protests that paralyzed the Central American nation for over a month, mobilizing a broad swath of Panamanian society, including Indigenous communities, who said the mine was destroying key ecosystems they depend on.In its decision, the high court highlighted those environmental and human rights concerns, and ruled the contract violated 25 articles of Panama’s constitution. Those include the right to live in a pollution-free environment, the obligation of the state to protect the health of minors and its comm...

Canadian family member of Hamas hostages speaks out after their release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

Canadian Aharon Brodutch is overjoyed about the release of his sister-in-law and her children from Hamas custody.The Toronto resident’s sister-in-law Hagar, 10-year-old niece Ofri, and two young nephews Yuval and Uriah, were taken by Hamas during a rampage at their Kibbutz near the Gaza border on Oct. 7.The family spent 50 days in captivity before they were reunited earlier this week. Brodutch spoke to media inside a Toronto day camp that his niece attended last summer and described the fear and anguish of not knowing whether they were dead or alive.“We heard nothing, absolutely nothing from them,” said Brodutch. “We were literally living on hope.” He fought back tears while describing the moment he reunited with his niece, nephews and sister-in-law. “They looked terrible, they were extremely thin, they were wearing the same clothes they were kidnapped in.”“For us extreme joy also mixed with a lot of pain, the pain of knowing they’ve b...

Cybersecurity agency warns that water utilities are vulnerable to hackers after Pennsylvania attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hackers are targeting industrial control systems widely used by water and sewage-treatment utilities, potentially threatening water supplies, the top U.S. cyberdefense agency said after a Pennsylvania water authority was hacked.The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued the warning Tuesday evening, three days after hacktivists shut down a piece of equipment at the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh. The hack effectively idled pumping equipment in a remote station that regulates water pressure for customers in two nearby towns. Crews switched to manual backup, officials said.The attackers likely accessed the device by exploiting cybersecurity weaknesses, including poor password security and exposure to the internet, U.S. officials said. The Aliquippa water authority did not respond to messages Wednesday.The equipment identified as vulnerable is used across multiple industries, including electric u...

Skilling: Cloudy, possible wet Thursday for Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

IT FELT 21-DEG WARMER  WEDNESDAY THAN YESTERDAY when both the temperature and wind chill are taken into account---A BIG CHANGE!Wednesday's temp recovery included an end 65 consecutive sub-freezing hours which began at 6pm Sunday, ran through Monday and Tuesday, and finally ended when the city's official O'Hare temp surged above freezing late Wed morning.Temps rose slowly last night, moving from 19-deg at 11pm Tuesday night to 28 by 8am this morning as the milder air filtered in to the Chicago area—and by mid afternoon had reached 40-deg at O'Hare.  It wouldn't be surprising to see the day's maximum reading top out at 41 before sunset brings on a nocturnal cooling.Dominance of Chicago's weather pattern shifted Wednesday from arctic-origin air to MILDER Pacific air Wednesday as a result in a shift in upper steering winds at the jet stream level.  For several days, those important, weather-guiding winds blew into the Midwest from the northernmost reaches of North America.  With th...

Ed Burke Trial: Prosecutors, defense attorneys continue battle over Old Main Post Office allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:05:00 GMT

CHICAGO — The trial of longtime Chicago alderman Ed Burke continued Wednesday, with testimony centered around the Old Main Post Office and more secretly-recorded video of conversations centered around Burke, fellow former alderman Danny Solis, and a post office developer.One of the conversations presented was from 2017 when Solis asked Burke about a potential kickback, and if he could persuade a post office developer to hire Burke's property tax law firm."The last time we met, you got me thinking," Burke said. "My son is at Ignatius and I have a big mortgage. If there's any thought you have on that.""If you can tee him up, you can be our consultant," Solis said. "That would be okay? No legal problems?""You're not going to get into any trouble and I'm not going to get into any trouble at this stage in the game," Burke replied. More from Dana: Scientists have identified a new way to treat lung cancer — and more Another recording showed Solis and Burke met with Harry Skydell, the pro...