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Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice rejects GOP call to recuse on redistricting cases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A newly elected liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, who has called Republican-drawn electoral districts “rigged,” declined to recuse herself on Friday from a pair of redistricting lawsuits.Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s decision to remain on the cases increases the chance that Republicans, who control the Legislature and drew the maps, may proceed with the unprecedented step of impeaching her. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has threatened impeachment if she doesn’t step down.Vos had no immediate comment on her decision, saying he needed to first speak with his attorney.Republicans argue she has pre-judged the cases, which could result in new, more Democrat-friendly maps being drawn before the 2024 election. In her 64-page order, Protasiewicz said she understood that the issue had “engendered strong feelings in some quarters among people of good faith.” But she said after searching the law “and my conscience,” she did not need to recuse.Protasiewicz said that whil...

Authorities can’t search slain Las Vegas reporter’s devices, Nevada Supreme Court rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A slain Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter’s personal devices and other records are protected even after death, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled.The state’s highest court ruled Thursday that Nevada’s shield law, which protects journalists from disclosing sources, precludes Las Vegas police and prosecutors from going through Jeff German’s things, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.The ruling also stated Nevada’s return of property law applies to the newspaper because it is an “aggrieved party.” Authorities had argued they could search German’s things because the Review-Journal had no ownership claims.The three justices also upheld a proposal that a third party examine German’s materials as part of the police investigation into his killing. A Clark County District judge previously said she didn’t have jurisdiction to consider the matter.Glenn Cook, the newspaper’s executive editor, applauded the court. He argued lett...

Small plane crashes beside inn near Chilliwack, B.C., airport

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

CHILLIWACK, B.C. — A small plane has crashed beside a hotel in Chilliwack, B.C. Haylie Morris, who works nearby, was on a forklift at about 2:15 p.m. today when she says she watched the plane fly right in front of her. Morris says she knew right away the plane was too low and began running as she watched it go through trees and crash beside the Chilliwack Motor Inn, just south of Chilliwack Municipal Airport. Morris says she and a co-worker called 911 and  directed emergency vehicles through a field at the back of the inn to the crash site. The registration number on the plane’s tail, seen in local media photos, indicates the aircraft is a Piper Seneca owned by the SkyQuest Aviation, a flight school based in Langley.It’s not known how many people were aboard, but the twin-engined Seneca model can carry a pilot and up to six passengers.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023. The Canadian Press

UN expert: Iran is unlawfully detaining human rights activists, including new Nobel peace laureate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran is cracking down on protesters, unlawfully detaining human rights activists, including new Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, and carrying out an “alarming” number of executions, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in the Islamic Republic said in a report circulated Friday.The wide-ranging report by Javaid Rehman, covering the period from October 2022 through July, was written before the announcement early Friday that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Mohammadi, a longtime campaigner for women’s rights even from her current cell in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.Rehman, a Pakistani-born professor of international human rights law at Brunel University in London, singled out Mohammadi among lawyers and human rights defenders imprisoned for their work in the report to the General Assembly.He was highly critical of the “excessive and lethal use of force” unleashed by Iranian authorities in reaction to nationwide protests followi...

NJ attorney general looking into 2018 investigation of crash involving Nadine Menendez

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

The New Jersey attorney general’s office has opened an inquiry into how local law enforcement handled an investigation into a fatal car crash that involved the then-future wife of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the review.Nadine Menendez had been dating the New Jersey Democrat for just under a year when she hit a man with her car on Dec. 12, 2018, in the town of Bogota. Richard Koop, 49, died almost instantly when he was hit while crossing the street in the dark near his home.Menendez, then known by her maiden name Nadine Arslanian, wasn’t tested for drugs or alcohol at the scene and Bogota police quickly concluded she wasn’t at fault and allowed her to leave the scene.She told police the man had run across the street in front of her car and she didn’t see him until he hit her windshield. Police said Koop was wearing a dark-colored jacket, wasn’t in a crosswalk, and been drinking at a tavern before the crash.T...

Virginia family sues school system for $30 million over student’s sexual assault in bathroom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A teenager and her parents have filed a $30 million lawsuit against a northern Virginia school system, saying the district failed to adequately investigate and tried to cover up her sexual assault by a male student in a high school bathroom. The details of the 2021 assault — the attacker was wearing a skirt in a women’s bathroom — made it a flashpoint in the national debate over allowing transgender students to use bathrooms, play sports and go by names and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity. Still, the assaults appear to have little to do with the attacker’s gender identity, according to documents filed with the family’s lawsuit. Teachers say he preferred and requested male pronouns, according to a report by a law firm that investigated the assault.The sexual assault in May was one of two committed by the same student in the school system. The second occurred at another high school in October 2021. The attacker, who was 15 at the time, h...

Officials search for answers in fatal shooting of Black Alabama homeowner by police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — City and state officials asked for patience Friday in the investigation of the fatal police shooting of a Black man at his Alabama home, a day after hundreds mourned him at a vigil.Steve Perkins, 39, was shot and killed by police Sept. 29 at his home in Decatur in what police said began in a confrontation with a tow truck driver trying to repossess a truck. Decatur police in their initial statement about the shooting said officers accompanied the driver back to the home and shot Perkins after he “turned the gun toward one of the officers.” The state law enforcement agency said Perkins had a gun with a light on it. Family members have questioned the police account. In home surveillance camera footage published by WAFF, all is quiet until an officer is heard shouting “police, get on the ground.” Shots are then immediately heard being fired in rapid succession. The family said in a statement that the truck was not in repossession, and that Perkins was shot se...

Media can’t wait for ‘perfect’ solution, says St-Onge as Google demands overhaul

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

TORONTO — The Canadian media landscape is changing too quickly to wait for a perfect version of the Online News Act, federal Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said Friday, while Google once again threatened to remove news links from its ubiquitous search engine over what the company considers serious flaws.“We need to put our foot in the door and start doing it,” St-Onge said Friday of the Liberal government’s new legislation, previously known in Parliament as Bill C-18, that would require tech giants to compensate media for news articles.“Even though it’s not perfect, even though some are not pleased with what we’re doing, but this new challenge is coming so fast that we need to address it as quickly as possible,” she said while speaking at the MINDS international news agency conference in Toronto.St-Onge said that part of the challenge is that the government waited too long to regulate digital platforms, so it’s starting with this law and expect...

ACLU sues a Tennessee city over an anti-drag ordinance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against a Tennessee city that passed an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property.The legal challenge is the latest development in the ongoing political battle over LGBTQ+ rights inside Tennessee, where the state’s conservative leaders have sought to limit events where drag performers may appear, restrict classroom conversations about gender and sexuality, and ban gender-affirming care. Friday’s latest lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Project, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and has previously hosted a Pride event in Murfreesboro — located about 34 miles (55 kilometers) south of Nashville — since 2016. However, according to the 67-page complaint, the organization has faced recent opposition from Murfreesboro leaders after conservative activists alleged that drag performances that took place duri...

Chicago man arrested in connection with deadly beating of 53-year-old woman in West Pullman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:48:48 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been arrested in connection with the beating death of a woman in the city's West Pullman neighborhood in late September, according to police.Chicago police said Jermaine Phelps, a 22-year-old man from the city's Southwest Side, was arrested by officers in Chicago Lawn on Thursday.According to police, Phelps is accused of fatally beating a 53-year-old woman in the early morning hours on Wednesday, Sept. 27. Downers Grove man accused of secretly recording videos of 2 women, 13-year-old girl Police said Phelps has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree.Authorities have not yet identified the victim killed and what led to the deadly beating.Phelps is set to appear in court for a detention hearing on Friday, Oct. 6.