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Former New York comptroller Alan Hevesi, tarnished by public scandals, dies at 83

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Alan Hevesi, a longtime elected official from New York City who resigned as state comptroller amid one scandal and later served prison time after a “pay-to-play” corruption probe, died Thursday. He was 83.A release from his family said he passed away peacefully surrounded by his children and loved ones. He died of Lewy body dementia, according to a spokesperson.Though his two-part downfall made him a symbol of corruption in New York politics, he was a respected state lawmaker for much of his career.The former Queens College professor won a state Assembly seat in 1971 and served more than two decades in the chamber, gaining a reputation as an impressive debater with an interest in health care issues.He won the New York City comptroller’s job in 1993, though he fell short in a 2001 bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor. He won the state comptroller’s election the next year.As Hevesi ran for reelection in 2006, a state ethics commission found he had violated the l...

California man who’s spent 25 years in prison for murder he didn’t commit has conviction overturned

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who has spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit was exonerated and ordered released by a judge on Thursday after prosecutors agreed he had been wrongly convicted.Miguel Solorio, 44, was arrested in 1998 for a fatal drive-by shooting in Whittier, southeast of Los Angeles, and eventually sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Superior Court Judge William Ryan overturned Solorio’s conviction during a Los Angeles court hearing that Solorio attended remotely. Attorneys with the California Innocence Project petitioned for Solorio’s release, arguing that his conviction was based on faulty eyewitness identification practices. In a letter last month, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said it had “confidently and definitively” concluded that Solorio is entitled to be released. The Innocence Project said the case against Solorio relied heavily on a now-debunked method of identifying a suspect that resul...

Taylor Swift’s Argentina concert takes political turn as presidential election nears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — As thousands of Taylor Swift fans eagerly lined up Thursday for the superstar’s first-ever concert in Argentina, they saw themselves surrounded by posters urging them to not vote in favor of right-wing populist Javier Milei in next week’s presidential election.“A Swiftie Doesn’t Vote Milei,” read one of the posters, using the term commonly used to describe fans of the 12-time Grammy winner.Some Swifties agreed. “Taylor defends lots of positions and things that Milei doesn’t represent,” said 17-year-old Julieta Bracamontes. “That sign is right and I agree with it.”At the bottom of the poster a hashtag read “Milei Is Trump.”Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who holds lots of socially conservative positions including opposition to abortion, has often been described as Argentina’s Donald Trump. “I think Trump is very similar to Milei,” said Constanza Trunsky, a psychology student, noting the points in common between Argentina’s current polit...

Abortion providers seek to broaden access to the procedure in Indiana

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Abortion providers and a pregnancy resource center sought a preliminary injunction Thursday to broaden the scope of a health or life exception to Indiana’s near-total abortion ban and to expand the sites where the procedures can be performed. The ban outlaws abortion even in cases presenting a serious health risk and threatens providers with criminal and licensing penalties for providing care in such circumstances, the plaintiffs argued in an amended complaint filed in Monroe County, south of Indianapolis.The plaintiffs seek to expand the medical exception to the law and block its requirement that any abortions that do occur be provided at a hospital. That requirement makes abortion even more inaccessible because only a few hospitals, concentrated in the Indianapolis area, provide abortions and typically do so at higher costs than at abortion clinics, the plaintiffs argue.The plaintiffs include the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Planned Parenthood Grea...

Senseonics: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

GERMANTOWN, Md. (AP) — GERMANTOWN, Md. (AP) — Senseonics Holdings Inc. (SENS) on Thursday reported a loss of $24.1 million in its third quarter.The Germantown, Maryland-based company said it had a loss of 4 cents per share.The results matched Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for a loss of 4 cents per share.The medical technology company posted revenue of $6.1 million in the period, surpassing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.4 million.Senseonics expects full-year revenue in the range of $20 million to $24 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SENS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SENSThe Associated Press

Judge in Alaska upholds Biden administration’s approval of the massive Willow oil-drilling project

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday upheld the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow oil-drilling project on Alaska’s remote North Slope, a massive project that drew the ire of environmentalists who accused the president of backpedaling on his pledge to combat climate change.U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected calls made by a grassroots Iñupiat group and environmentalists to vacate the approval and dismissed their claims against the project, which is in the federally designated National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.The company has the right to develop its oil and gas leases in the reserve “subject to reasonable restrictions and mitigation measures imposed by the federal government,” Gleason wrote. She added that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s analysis of alternatives was consistent with the policy objectives of the petroleum reserve and the stated purpose and need of the Willow project.The decision can be appealed. Environmental groups hav...

Department of Justice, civil rights group to appeal federal judge’s ruling declaring DACA illegal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice and a civil rights group filed legal notices on Thursday saying they plan to appeal a federal judge’s recent ruling that declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.In September, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston ruled in favor of Texas and eight other states suing to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. The federal policy was first created by the Obama administration in 2012.In his ruling, Hanen expressed sympathy for DACA recipients and their families but said the executive branch had overstepped its authority in creating the program and it was up to Congress to take action on this issue.In separate notices of appeal filed Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice, which represented the federal government, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, which is r...

Toronto pharmacist ending vaccination program over supply issues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

Less than two weeks into Ontario’s flu and COVID-19 vaccination rollout, a Toronto pharmacist will no longer provide the shots to members of his community, citing ongoing supply issues putting people at risk. Kyro Maseh, who works at two pharmacies, Rylander and Lawlor in the east end of Toronto under the Pharmasave umbrella, said the distribution of flu and COVID-19 shots has been a disaster. Sometimes, they’ve received empty boxes or just 20 doses from an order of 200.“If you have patients who are transplant patients or a patient about to start chemo, we had to prioritize these patients as we always do, but unfortunately, we have had to do a lot more triaging this year than any other year,” said Maseh. “At Rylander [Pharmasave], we had nothing, so we’ve been turning away 50-60 people a day.”He said the issues started with the decision by the Ministry of Health to appoint Shoppers Drug Mart as one of the distributors of publicly-f...

Suburban food drive aims to fill tables with food and hope for the holidays

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, a local food pantry is asking for help filling their shelves.Yellow barrels started popping up all over Will and DuPage counties last week, in hopes the community will fill them with enough food for those who might otherwise go without this Thanksgiving holiday.  They call it “Harvest Week.”"That's what food pantries are there for. To be that net to help people make it through day-to-day," Sarah Corbin is with the West Suburban Community Food Pantry. "Every year our numbers really increase around the holidays." For CEO Sue Armato, Harvest Week is a personal one."When I was a little girl, we struggled financially and we were dependent on being able to have help from food pantries and if it weren't for those good kind people, we wouldn't have had a holiday meal at all,” she said."We never want to run out of food, so the Harvest drive is really our opportunity to make sure we are packed and ready for that huge Saturday right befo...

What's ahead for the Bears in the 2nd half of the 2023 season?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:59 GMT

Joe Lewis of The Barber's Chair Network and the "79th and Halas" podcast talks Bears ahead of Thursday's game against the Panthers on "9 Good Minutes" on WGN News Now.CHICAGO — While no one expected the Bears to be dominant, its safe to say the first half of the team's season has been a disappointment.Through nine games, the team has won just two games, dealt with the departure of two assistant coaches and a serious injury to their starting quarterback while only moderate progress has been made from a 3-14 campaign in 2022. While the team has increased its talent through free agency and trade at the deadline to acquire defensive end Montez Sweat, the Bears haven't exactly inspired faith in the Matt Eberflus era of the franchise. Hence the head coach's seat is already hot not even two years into his tenure in Chicago.So a lot of curious eyes will be on Soldier Field as the Bears open the second half of their season against the Panthers on Thursday. This final run is a chance for Ebef...