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Judge blocks Wyoming’s 1st-in-the-nation abortion pill ban while court decides lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

By MEAD GRUVER (Associated Press)CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Abortion pills will remain legal in Wyoming for now, after a judge ruled Thursday that the state’s first-in-the-nation law to ban them won’t take effect July 1 as planned while a lawsuit proceeds.Attorneys for Wyoming failed to show that the ban wouldn’t harm the plaintiffs before their lawsuit is resolved, Teton County Judge Melissa Owens ruled after hearing arguments from both sides. Meanwhile, those plaintiffs “have clearly showed probable success on the merits,” Owens said.While other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion, only Wyoming has specifically banned abortion pills. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that access to one of the two pills, mifepristone, may continue while litigants seek to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of it.Wyoming’s pill ban is being challenged by four women, including two obstet...

Man without a driver’s license drove through crowd headed to Chicago White Sox game, prosecutors say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

Prosecutors on Thursday said that a 20-year-old man who was never issued a driver’s license and was once accused of fleeing police at a traffic stop plowed through a crowd of people crossing the street to head into Guaranteed Rate Field.Condelarious Garcia faces four counts of aggravated reckless driving, along with misdemeanor driving on a suspended license and three traffic citations for the Tuesday night collision steps from the stadium in the 300 block of West 35th Street.Authorities said Garcia was behind the wheel of the silver Acura sedan that severely injured four pedestrians crossing 35th Street to the park entrance around 6:30 p.m. A 64-year-old man, was tossed headfirst into the Acura’s sunroof, prosecutors said.“(Garcia) displays a wanton disregard for other individuals. The fact that his flight was more important than the safety of the individual lodged in his sunroof, or the safety of the people in the car with him,” said Judge Charles Beach II ...

Accused Cape Verdean killer tried to renew US passport while on the run, feds say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

A Brockton man faces up to a decade in prison as feds say he applied for a new U.S. passport at an overseas embassy while he was on the run for murder charges in Cape Verde, but lying that he had lost it during Christmas dinner.Johnny Brandao, 40, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Cape Verde, was indicted on one count of passport fraud this week after having previously been charged with criminal complaint for the same offense on May 7, for which he was arrested two days later. He will appear in federal court in Boston on the charge at an unscheduled date.“It is alleged that on March 27, 2014, together with another defendant, Brandao shot an individual in the head using a .45 caliber revolver, took one million and five hundred thousand Cape Verdean Escudo, and then dumped the victim’s body on the side of the road,” Special Agent Daniel Starr of the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service wrote in a May 7 affidavit supporting the charges.“It is further alleged that on July 26, ...

Serial thief gets 7 years for robbing Hyde Park bank with BB gun

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

A Hyde Park man with a significant history of robbery will spend seven years in prison for robbing a neighborhood bank of about $13,600 with just a BB gun.Paul Whooten, 59, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to one count of armed bank robbery back in January and on Wednesday was sentenced to seven years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.“Give me all your money,” Whooten allegedly told a Hyde Park Rockland Trust Bank four days before Christmas in 2019. He carried what appeared to be an assault-style rifle and was decked out in a distinctive outfit of a long, cark coat over a yellow and black reflective jacket with a bright yellow hood, as well as sunglasses, a black knit cap, a mask and gloves.Whooten walked out of the bank with $13,603 from the till. A Boston Police officer stationed inside the bank broadcasted Whooten’s description and the direction he fled, and he was soon — mere “minutes later” according to the defense’s sentencing memo — found b...

Big names in fashion, tech, entertainment rub shoulders at White House dinner for India’s Modi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Titans of business, fashion, entertainment and more made the guest list for Thursday’s big White House dinner in honor of India’s Narendra Modi, with the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and tennis legend Billie Jean King rubbing shoulders with tech leaders from Apple, Google and Microsoft.Shyamalan powered past reporters as he arrived, declaring it “lovely” to be at the White House. Lauren, who paired his tuxedo with gray New Balance sneakers, revealed he’d designed first lady Jill Biden’s off-shoulder green gown, calling her style “chic and elegant.” And violinist Joshua Bell, part of the after-dinner entertainment, said the evening was a “little different than anything I’ve done before.”“I’ll skip out and practice for half an hour” during dinner, Bell said. He said he wished he could perform first and then have some wine. Saris — some thoroughly modern and including a Barbiecore hot pink one — and sequins were prominent am...

2.5M Genworth policyholders and 769K retired California workers and beneficiaries affected by hack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The country’s largest public pension fund says the personal information of about 769,000 retired California employees and other beneficiaries — including Social Security numbers — was among data stolen by Russian cybercriminals in the breach of a popular file-transfer application.It blamed the breach on a third-party vendor that verifies deaths. The same vendor, PBI Research Services/Berwyn Group, also lost the personal data of at least 2.5 million Genworth Financial policyholders, including Social Security numbers, to the same criminal gang, according to the Fortune 500 insurer.The California Public Employees Reitrement system said they were offering affected members two years of free credit monitoring. Genworth said in a statement posted online it would offer credit monitoring and ID theft protection.The breach of the MOVEit file-transfer program, discovered last month, is estimated by cybersecurity experts to have compromised hundreds of organizati...

Brazil’s president offers to try to win release of bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered Thursday to help try to gain the release of a Roman Catholic bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua. Lula made the comments after visiting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Bishop Rolando Álvarez was jailed by the regime of President Daniel Ortega for supposedly helping anti-government protesters. The bishop was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and he later refused to board a plane bound for the United States in February. “I want to talk to Daniel Ortega about freeing the bishop,” Lula said, adding, “I am going to try to help, if I can help.”“The only thing the church wants is for Nicaragua to free the bishop so he can go to Italy,” Lula said.There was no immediate reaction from the Ortega government. Relations between Ortega and the church have frayed to near non-existence since Nicaragua’s government began jailing opponents and clergy and expelling church-related groups.Since anti-government street protests bro...

B.C. vineyards devastated by winter freeze, slashing wine output up to 56%: growers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — Wine growers in British Columbia say a bitter cold snap last winter has devastated vineyards, causing irreparable damage to almost half of the province’s planted acreage that may force some producers out of business. The fallout from last December’s freeze, that saw temperatures in the Okanagan dip to minus 30 C, has the potential to cut this year’s grape and wine production by between 39 per cent and 56 per cent, with direct revenue losses of up to $145 million, said Miles Prodan, Wine Growers B.C. president.The extent of the weather damage was only realized this spring when growers were able to examine their budding vines, he said Thursday at a news conference at a Kelowna winery.The impact would be severe, immediate and long-lasting, he said, hitting harvests, output, revenue and jobs.“Following bud break, our industry-wide research concluded that our worst fears were realized with a 54 per cent reduction in 2023, and 45 per cent of total p...

Two dead after shooting outside Florida McDonald’s, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two people were found dead following a shooting Thursday afternoon outside a McDonald’s restaurant in the Florida Panhandle, police said.Tallahassee police said in a Facebook post that they were conducting a double homicide investigation.When officers responded to the fast-food restaurant about 5 p.m., they reported finding two men dead in the parking lot.Police haven’t released the names of the victims or who might have killed them.No injuries were reported inside the restaurant.The Associated Press

‘Rust’ weapons supervisor charged with dumping drugs on day of Alec Baldwin shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:01:28 GMT

The weapons supervisor charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” was charged Thursday with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself.” the special prosecutors appointed in the case said in a Santa Fe County court filing. They gave no further details. Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles called the move “retaliatory and vindictive.” “It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it,” Bowles said in a statement. Gutierrez-Reed is the sole remaining defendant in the case after prosecutors in April dropped an inv...