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Rulings in Texas, Missouri jumble again where US transgender youth can receive treatment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A judge on Friday ruled against Texas’ ban on gender-affirming health care for minors while a separate judge in Missouri let a similar ban take effect, jumbling again where in the U.S. transgender youth can receive treatment. The conflicting decisions, handed down hours apart in two Republican-led states, added to the legal unpredictability that is unfolding nationwide over a historic wave of new laws this year that target LGBTQ+ rights. Underscoring the fast-changing landscape, Texas swiftly appealed to keep its new restrictions on track to take effect Sept. 1, when it would become the largest state in the U.S. to enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. “Across the country, countless transgender youth are having their well-being threatened and their lives uprooted by dangerous and unconstitutional bans,” said Elizabeth Gill, an attorney for the ACLU, which represented families and doctors challenging the Texas ban.More than 20 states have adopt...

Alabama seeks nation’s 1st execution by nitrogen hypoxia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is seeking to become the first state to carry out an execution by nitrogen hypoxia.The Alabama attorney general’s office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for Kenneth Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a method the state has said for years that it was working to develop.Nitrogen hypoxia is caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to pass out and die, according to the theory. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. Critics have likened the untested method to human experimentation.Alabama authorized nitrogen hypoxia in 2018 but the state has not attempted to use it until now to carry out a death sentence. Oklahoma and Mississippi have also authorized nitrogen hypoxia. The court filing did not disclose the details of the how the execution would be carried out. Corrections Commissioner John Hamm told reporters last m...

Charges dropped against man accused of fleeing police in a high-speed chase that killed a bystander

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Charges were dropped on Friday against the man who was accused of fleeing police in a high-speed chase that resulted in the death of a bystander in Minneapolis two years ago. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office dismissed counts of fleeing police and auto theft against James Jeremiah Jones-Drain, 20, citing an “inability to prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at this time,” according to a brief court filing, the Star Tribune reported.Jones-Drain remains in custody with other cases pending — including felony charges of robbery and illegally possessing a gun — according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s website.Brian Cummings, the former Minneapolis police officer involved in the chase, was sentenced in July to nine months in the county workhouse, with eligibility for electronic home monitoring in three months, after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in the high-speed chase.Prosecutors said at the time that Cummings was pursuing a suspect...

Supermodel Bella Hadid criticized Israel’s far-right security minister. Now he’s lashing out at her

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s far-right national security minister lashed out at supermodel Bella Hadid on Friday for criticizing his recent fiery televised remarks about Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.In an interview earlier this week with Israel’s Channel 12 following two deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the occupied territory, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir argued that his right to freedom of movement as a Jewish settler outweighs the same right for Palestinians. “My right, the right of my wife and my children, to move around Judea and Samaria is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs,” Ben-Gvir said Wednesday, using the biblical name for the West Bank. “The right to life comes before freedom of movement.”Addressing Mohammad Magadli, a well-known Israeli-Arab television host who was in the studio, Ben-Gvir added: “Sorry, Mohammad. But that’s the reality.”Hadid, a supermodel and social media influencer whose father is Palestinia...

Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers renew claim that the FTX founder can’t prepare for trial behind bars

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried said Friday that prosecutors have delivered another four million pages of documents for the FTX founder to examine six weeks before trial, making it impossible for the former cryptocurrency executive to adequately review the evidence for an October trial from behind bars.Bankman-Fried lost the right to remain free on bail when a judge decided two weeks ago that the fallen cryptocurrency wiz had repeatedly tried to influence witnesses against him. Prosecutors say he intentionally deceived customers and investors to enrich himself and others, while playing a central role in the company’s multibillion-dollar collapse after the equivalent of a bank run.In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, attorneys Christian Everdell and Mark Cohen renewed their request for the 31-year-old to be freed so he can adequately prepare for his Oct. 3 trial. He’d been living with his parents in Palo Alto, California, under the terms of a $250 m...

Yale and a student group are settling a mental health discrimination lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

Yale University and a student group announced Friday that they’ve reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit that accused the Ivy League school of discriminating against students with mental health disabilities, including pressuring them to withdraw.Under the agreement, Yale will modify its policies regarding medical leaves of absence, including streamlining the reinstatement process for students who return to campus. The plaintiffs had argued the process was onerous, discouraging students for decades from taking medical leave when they needed it most. The settlement is a “watershed moment” for the university and mental health patients, said 2019 graduate Rishi Mirchandani, a co-founder of Elis for Rachael, the group that sued. It was formed in honor of a Yale student who took her own life to help students with mental health issues. “This historic settlement affirms that students with mental health needs truly belong,” Mirchandani said.A message was left seeking comment w...

Biden and Harris will meet with King’s family on the March on Washington’s 60th anniversary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will observe Monday’s 60th anniversary of the March on Washington by meeting with organizers of the 1963 gathering and relatives of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The Oval Office meeting will be held six decades after President John F. Kennedy and King met at the White House on the morning of the march on Aug. 28, 1963. All of King’s children have been invited to meet with Biden, White House officials said. Biden also will speak later Monday at a White House reception commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal organization that was established at Kennedy’s request to help advocate for racial justice. Two White House officials provided details of the Democratic president and vice president’s plans on the condition of anonymity because their ...

CTA sees decrease in crime 1 year after unveiling plan to transform agency

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

CHICAGO — In a new report, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) says it has made significant improvements to rider safety and service since unveiling its “Meeting the Moment" action plan last year, which sought to transform the agency in the wake of the pandemic.The years-long trend of increasing crime on the CTA seems to be shifting, with the new report showing that the CTA is making progress in its efforts to reduce crime. Chicago files lawsuit against Kia, Hyundai over rise in car thefts "I've been taking the CTA in the city for maybe five years, and I’m getting less episodes of violence and theft and stuff like that," frequent bus rider Mahmud Rahman said.New police data verifies Rahman's observation. According to the new report, overall crime is down 9% since the start of the year and 21% compared to July 2022. The report says violent crime has also decreased by 13% since the beginning of the year.In reaction to a spreading sense of unease on public transportation, the CTA say...

Student arrested after threatening Glenbard North High School principal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. -- A student at Glenbard North High School has been arrested after making a threatening comment directed at the principal on Thursday.According to the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, 18-year-old Zachary Kurzeja, of Carol Stream, made a threatening comment directed towards the principal at Glenbard North High School on Thrusday. 2 Chicago area defendants in Trump Georgia election case surrender Kurzeja was at Glenbard North High School when he allegedly commented to another individual at the school, “Hey man, if you heard someone shot at principal at the head, don’t look at me.”Following an investigation, the 18-year-old was taken into custody on Thursday.Kurzeja has been charged with disorderly conduct and his bond set at $250,000.

27 migrants living at Chicago Police Department 10th District weeks after sexual misconduct allegations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:55 GMT

CHICAGO -- Members of the 10th police district council said there are currently 27 migrants living at the station weeks ago after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct.On July 7, roughly 40 migrants were moved out of the CPD 10th district location after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) opened an investigation after reports officers had improper sexual relations with migrants at the police station in North Lawndale.The incident has been under investigation with the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs, but have reported they have been unable to locate a victim.The city confirmed that asylum seekers are also back at the 19th district in Lakeview where there was an allegation of sexual misconduct as well.Since August 2022, the city of Chicago reports 204 buses have arrived.As of Friday morning, there are more than 16-awaiting shelter placement and more than 1,300 of them are living at Chicago police districts across the city.Elainne Bahana with ...