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Virginia finalizes guidance on transgender students, including rolling back some accomodations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration said Tuesday that it has finalized new policies on the treatment of transgender students, guidance that will direct school districts to roll back some current accommodations and increase parental notification requirements about certain discussions involving gender identity. Youngkin said the guidelines, which have been sharply criticized by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups since they were first unveiled last year, will empower parents while prohibiting discrimination and creating a safe learning environment. “All children in Virginia deserve to have a parent engaged in their life and to be treated with dignity and respect. The (Virginia Department of Education’s) updated model policies reaffirm my administration’s continued commitment to ensure that every parent is involved in conversations regarding their child’s education, upbringing, and care,” he said in a statement. The Republican governor’s administration first ...

Coroner identifies two victims killed by man who later died in police shootout in Louisiana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

HARVEY, La. (AP) — Louisiana authorities have identified the former shipyard worker who was killed in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies Monday, and the two ex-coworkers the man had gunned down hours before he was killed.The suspect killed Monday afternoon at an apartment complex in suburban New Orleans was Willis Thomas, 31, of Harvey, Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich, the Jefferson Parish coroner, told New Orleans news outlets. Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said deputies tracked Thomas to his apartment a couple of hours after he killed two of his former coworkers, identified by Cvitanovich as Nakie James Brown, 48, and Dustin Parrie Jr., 20, at FMT Shipyard. It remains unclear why Thomas had been fired at the shipyard or why he shot the two men. Thomas was tracked to the apartment after deputies received information about a car he left the scene in. The car turned out to belong to the suspect’s mother, who had picked him up when he called her from the shipyard, Lopinto said. The woman...

Baltimore squeegee worker on trial for murder acted in self-defense in motorist’s death, lawyer says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore teenager acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a baseball bat-wielding driver who approached youths washing windshields at a busy downtown intersection last summer, attorneys for the teen argued as his murder trial got underway Tuesday.The high-profile tragedy reignited longstanding debate about Baltimore’s squeegee workers, mostly Black youths from disadvantaged backgrounds looking to make fast cash. City leaders have since banned the practice at certain high-traffic intersections and stepped up efforts to connect squeegee workers with above board job opportunities.“The state would have you believe this case is about squeegee boys,” defense attorney J. Wyndal Gordon told jurors in his opening statement. “This case is about road rage.”Timothy Reynolds, 48, died from gunshot wounds after the July 2022 confrontation in evening rush hour near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. An engineer and father of three, he grew up in the Baltimore area and was an avid ...

Pearl Harbor sailor laid to rest in home state of Maine more than 80 years later

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A naval aviator killed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was laid to rest more than 80 years later in his home state on Tuesday. Ensign Stanley W. Allen received a funeral with full military honors at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, with several family members in attendence. He was 25 when he died, and his remains were previously buried with unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Ensign Allen, who was trained to fly a spotter float plane from the USS Oklahoma, was among 429 sailors who died on the battleship, which rolled over with many trapped inside on Dec. 7, 1941.Allen was among 388 service members whose remains went unidentified before a 2015 program in which bodies were disinterred for DNA analysis. Since then, more than 350 have been identified. The Bowdoin College graduate enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1940 in Boston before training at Naval Air Station Pensacola and getting assigned to Observation S...

Alberta moves to decentralize health-care delivery, 15 years after centralizing it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta’s new health minister has been given the go-ahead to decentralize the entire health-care delivery system — 15 years after the province completed a multistage, multiyear process to centralize it.In a mandate letter released Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith directed Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to reform the management and structure of Alberta Health Services to spread out decision-making to improve front-line care.“We need to foster an environment within AHS and the entire health community that welcomes innovation and incentivizes the best patient care,” the United Conservative premier wrote.LaGrange, speaking in a radio interview on QR Calgary, said it’s not clear yet what the reforms will be.“I do see some challenges and some gaps that have been created over time, over decades,” said LaGrange.She said the focus will be on primary, acute and continuing care, but said, “all of this will involve structures, and it’s too early to say what those will lo...

An alleged Chicago brothel operator is sentenced to probation, home confinement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A 35-year-old woman who prosecutors said operated a multistate prostitution business from a three-story Chicago building that functioned like a brothel was sentenced Tuesday to probation.Jessica Nesbitt pleaded guilty in February to a federal conspiracy charge.U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly told Jessica Nesbitt she must serve nine months of her two-year probation in home confinement, news outlets reported. “It’s difficult to look upon this as a crime that had identifiable victims who suffered significant harm,” Kennelly said.A federal indictment unsealed in 2019 said Nesbitt took in millions of dollars through prostitution services that she and her employees provided in Illinois, California, Florida, Indiana, Nevada, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.Nesbitt admitted arranging prostitution services with herself and employees at rates of $300 to $1,000 per hour. She admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors that she took in more than $1 million in payments ...

1-year-old dies after being shot by 3-year-old sibling in California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

FALLBROOK, Calif. (KSWB) - A 1-year-old girl was shot and killed Monday in Fallbrook, California by her 3-year-old sibling who got ahold of an unsecured handgun, authorities said.Deputies received a call around 7:30 a.m. reporting that a 3-year-old had accidentally shot their 1-year-old sibling, Lt. Joseph Jarjura with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.When law enforcement arrived on scene, they found the 1-year-old with a head injury.Officials confirmed the 3-year-old shot the 1-year-old after finding the gun. The victim was taken to a hospital but later died due to her injuries, per the sheriff's department. Investigators: Guns, life-sized doll found in accused Gilgo Beach killer’s home "The Sheriff's Department extends our sympathies to the family and those affected by this death. Sheriff's Homicide investigators are working to gather more information to determine the circumstances of the death," Jarjura said.The investigation is ongoing as there ...

Jason Aldean defends 'Try That in a Small Town' as CMT pulls video

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

(The Hill) – Country music singer Jason Aldean sought to defend his latest single "Try That in a Small Town" on Tuesday after Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the song's music video from their air.The song, which was released in May, has been heavily criticized in recent days after the release of the video, which was filmed in the front of a courthouse in Colombia, Tenn., where a Black man was famously lynched in the 1920s. In the video, the courthouse is projected with images of violent protests and criminal acts, including demonstrations from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020."Cuss out a cop, spit in his faceStomp on the flag and light it upYeah, ya think you're tough," Aldean sings."Well, try that in a small townSee how far ya make it down the road."A CMT spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that the video “has been removed,” but did not offer additional information on the decision to pull it. Country singer Jason Aldean dropped by PR firm following backlash over...

Kim Foxx: 'We're on the right side of history' with Illinois becoming first state to eliminate cash bail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO (WGN/AP) — Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail as a condition of pretrial release from jail on Tuesday when the state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionally of the law abolishing it.The 5-2 ruling overturns a Kankakee County judge's opinion in December that the law violated the constitution's provision that “all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties." Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, writing for the majority, decreed that the law honors the constitution's balance between the rights of victims and defendants."What I am celebrating is a system that is designed to keep our community safe, where people who are a danger to the public don't get to get out simply because they have access to cash and people who are not a threat to the public are not incarcerator because they are poor," Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said. Illinois Supreme Court rules cash bail can be eliminated Proponents of eliminating cash bail describe it as a...

Should some veterans be blocked from buying guns?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) -- Illinois Congressman Michael Bost said his bill to require a court order before the Veterans Administration can report vets to the FBI National Background Check Database and block their gun purchases is aimed at protecting the 2nd Amendment rights of veterans.The Republican lawmaker said veterans rights are being violated because some who are appointed a trustee to help manage their benefits are also blocked from buying guns."We're punishing our veterans for simply seeking help," Bost said. "The VA should not be able to take away a veteran's 2nd Amendment rights because they need help managing their benefits."But Democrats like California Rep. Mark Takano say the current process is saving lives. The VA agrees."They have 8 times greater likelihood of suicidal ideations," Takano said. "At least a third of veterans in the fiduciary program are identified as potentially schizophrenic. Nearly as much are identified as with serious bipolar."Statistics show 17 veter...