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Debt limit talks in standstill as Republicans, White House face ‘real differences’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

By KEVIN FREKING, LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt limit talks came to an abrupt standstill Friday after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it’s time to “pause” negotiations, and a White House official acknowledged there are “real differences” that are making talks difficult.McCarthy said resolution to the standoff is “easy,” if only President Joe Biden would agree to some spending cuts Republicans are demanding. It is unclear when negotiations would resume. “We’ve got to get movement by the White House and we don’t have any movement yet,” McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol. “So, yeah, we’ve got to pause.” A White House official who was granted anonymity Friday to discuss the private conversations said there are “real differences” between the parties on the budget issues and further “talks will be difficult.”T...

Ontario police investigating after kitten thrown from car window onto highway

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is investigating after a kitten was thrown from a car window onto a busy provincial highway.OPP Highway Safety Division said the kitten was reportedly thrown out of a car on the eastbound portion of Highway 403 near Waterdown around 10:45 a.m. on Friday. The young cat, which appears to have lost an eye, is being treated and cared for by a local veterinarian.Police are trying to determine whether the cat was thrown from the window by its owner or if it was a stray.Anyone with information is being asked to contact Burlington OPP at 905-681-2511.This kitten that was reportedly thrown out of a car on EB #Hwy403/Waterdown around 10:45am this morning? Anyone with info call #BurlingtonOPP 905-681-2511.Kitten is at a veterinarian being treated right now. ^ks pic.twitter.com/T6u5dFNtGs— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) May 19, 2023

Disney World’s “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” hotel to close

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — No more premium stay in a galaxy far, far away: Disney World’s “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” hotel is making its last voyage at the end of September.The hotel at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida opened in March 2022 and lets guests create and live out “Star Wars” immersive adventures. It costs nearly $5,000 per couple for a two-night stay.“This premium, boutique experience gave us the opportunity to try new things on a smaller scale of 100 rooms, and as we prepare for its final voyage, we will take what we’ve learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our guests and fans,” a company spokesperson said in a statement Friday. Disney said on the hotel’s website that new bookings are “temporarily paused” but will resume May 26 for available voyages through Sept. 28-30.The company said it would reach out to guests who booked stays for that time or later to discuss alternatives.The Associated Press

San Francisco officials are investigating if Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Hotel’ plan broke laws

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco officials are investigating Twitter after six former employees allege that owner Elon Musk’s leadership team broke laws by turning the company’s headquarters into a “Twitter Hotel” for workers who were pushed to stay up late to transform the social media platform.The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said Friday that it has opened a new complaint and will be conducting an investigation into the new allegations.The San Francisco Chronicle earlier reported on the city’s latest investigation into the company that Musk took over late last year. That’s after the ex-employees, including a former vice president of real estate, alleged in a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Delaware that Twitter didn’t pay them promised severance. Twitter is seeking to have the case dismissed.The ex-workers also allege that Musk’s team ordered numerous changes to the company’s headquarters in a 1930s Art Deco building in downto...

Man wanted in fatal daylight stabbing near Yonge-Dundas Square

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

Toronto police have identified a suspect involved in the fatal stabbing of a man that occurred in broad daylight near Yonge-Dundas Square last week.Just before 2 p.m. on Friday, May 12, emergency crews rushed to the scene in front of The Works, a city-run supervised injection and harm reduction facility at 277 Victoria Street near Yonge-Dundas Square.It’s alleged that there was an altercation between two men, which led to one of them being stabbed. The victim was taken to a local hospital with critical injuries and was pronounced dead a short time later.The victim was identified as 40-year-old Richard Sasaki.On Friday, police said 29-year-old Danyal Khan of no fixed address is wanted for second-degree murder.Police believe the accused fled the area on foot and that Khan may have been there for some time before the altercation. It’s also possible the suspect had been interacting with others in the area during that time.With files from Michael Talbot of CityNews

COVID emergency orders are among `greatest intrusions on civil liberties,’ Justice Gorsuch says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court got rid of a pandemic-related immigration case with a single sentence.Justice Neil Gorsuch had a lot more to say, leveling harsh criticism of how governments, from small towns to the nation’s capital, responded to the gravest public health threat in a century.The justice, a 55-year-old conservative who was President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, called emergency measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis that killed more than 1 million Americans perhaps “the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.”He pointed to orders closing schools, restricting church services, mandating vaccines and prohibiting evictions. His broadside was aimed at local, state and federal officials — even his colleagues.“Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale,” Gorsuch wrote in an eight-page statement Thursday that accompanied an expected Supreme Court order forma...

Diplomatic tour by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy highlights Putin’s stark isolation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — While the world awaits Ukraine’s spring battlefield offensive, its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has launched a diplomatic one. In the span of a week, he’s dashed to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and Britain to shore up support for defending his country.On Friday, he was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Arab leaders, some of whom are allies with Moscow.President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, was in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, chairing a meeting with local officials, sitting at a large table at a distance from the other attendees. The Russian president has faced unprecedented international isolation, with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant hanging over his head and clouding the prospects of traveling to many destinations, including those viewed as Moscow’s allies.With his invasion of Ukraine, “Putin took a gamble and lost really, really big time,” said Theresa Fallon, director of the Brussels-based Centre for Russia Europe As...

Attacks fly as contentious general election campaign for Kentucky governor begins

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The general election campaign for Kentucky governor got off to a feisty start this week as Democrats worked to link the freshly minted Republican nominee to heavily criticized pardons by the vanquished predecessor of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who is trying to win a second term in GOP territory.Republicans united behind attacks of their own, declaring at a morning unity rally that Beshear has overstated his role in achievements they say were based on actions taken by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature. “The governor has a press conference to take credit for the sun rising,” said Republican state Senate President Robert Stivers. “And I’m sure tonight he’ll probably have a press conference taking credit for the sun setting.”But if there was any doubt about national interest in the race, which could offer something of a preview of voter sentiment ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign, that was put to rest with a blistering ad launched on ...

FBI says past searches of foreign intelligence database broke standards but reforms have been made

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when they searched a vast repository of foreign intelligence for information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U..S. Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a heavily blacked-out court order released Friday.FBI officials said the violations predated a series of corrective measures that started in the summer of 2021 and continued last year. But the problems could nonetheless complicate FBI and Justice Department efforts to receive congressional reauthorization of a warrantless surveillance program that law enforcement officials say is needed to counter terrorism, espionage and international cybercrime.The violations were detailed in a secret court order issued last year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has legal oversight of the U.S. government’s spy powers. The Office of the Director of the National Intelligence released a redacted version on Friday in ...

Missouri governor picks ex-federal prosecutor to replace Kim Gardner as St. Louis circuit attorney

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Friday named Gabe Gore, a former assistant U.S. attorney, as the new chief prosecutor in St. Louis, three days after Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s sudden departure.Gore is a partner in the St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett and previously worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis. Black clergy and others had urged Parson to appoint a Black person to the role, and Gore is Black.Parson and Gore were joined at the announcement by Democratic Mayor Tishaura Jones, Police Chief Robert Tracy and others. He said there was a “unified front” behind the new appointment, which runs through 2024. Gore said he hasn’t decided if he will run for election to the office in the August 2024 Democratic primary.“We must return stability and the rule of law to this office,” Parson said.Gore said he comes into the office with two priorities: Building back the depleted staff that has seen massive turnover of assistant prosecuto...