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Court upholds $75,000 in fines against Alex Jones for missing Sandy Hook case deposition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut appeals court on Friday upheld $75,000 in fines against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for missing a deposition in the lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, which led to a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones for repeatedly calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a hoax.The state Appellate Court said that while Jones claimed an illness and doctor’s recommendations prevented him from attending the questioning in his hometown of Austin, Texas, in March 2022, he continued live broadcasts of his Infowars show at the same time. Jones later did appear for a deposition early the next month in Connecticut and was refunded the $75,000 in fines he paid.“We agree with the trial court that the undisputed fact that the defendant chose to host a live radio broadcast from his studio … significantly undercuts his claim that he was too ill to attend the deposition,” Judge José Suarez wrote in the 3-0 ruling. “We conclude that the court reasonably inferred &...

US-China relations are defined by rivalry but must include engagement, American ambassador says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-China relationship will be defined by strategic competition in the coming decades but must involve engagement when the interests of the two countries align, the U.S. ambassador to China said Friday, one month after President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to stabilize the fraught relations.Nicholas Burns said the U.S. and China are “vying for global power as well as regional power” as they compete militarily, politically and economically.“I think we are systematic rivals, if you think about our national security and economic and political interests around the world,” Burns said at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.Yet, the two countries need to work together on issues such as climate change, narcotics, global health and food security, he said. “No person in their right mind should want this relationship to end up in conflict or in war,” he said. “So we’re going to develop a relationship where we can compe...

Michigan State reaches settlements with families of students slain in mass shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University trustees have approved settlements with the families of three students slain during a mass shooting earlier this year on the school’s campus.Trustees voted unanimously Friday to approve separate claims with the families of Brian Fraser, Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner.The school did not release the amounts of the settlements, but an attorney for Verner’s family told reporters the family will receive $5 million from Michigan State.“While no amount of compensation can ever replace the loss of a life, we do hope this brings some closure, support and relief to these impacted families,” Trustee David Kelly said. “The university gives its deepest condolences to each of the three families, and we are committed to ensuring the memory of their child in not forgotten in the Spartan community.”Anderson, Verner and Fraser were fatally shot and five other students were wounded Feb. 13 when Anthony McRae opened fire at Berkey...

US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday.About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness during the January snapshot. That’s the highest number since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to count the homeless population. The total represents an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared to January 2022.The latest estimate also indicated that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase, and it ended a downward trend in family homelessness that began in 2012. “This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place,” House and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a prepared stateme...

Federal appeals court refuses to reconsider ruling on Louisiana’s congressional map

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court refused Friday to reconsider its ruling giving the Louisiana Legislature until Jan. 15 to enact a new congressional map after a lower court found that the current political boundaries dilute the power of the state’s Black voters.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Louisiana’s Republican secretary of state and other state officials to have a larger set of judges rehear the Nov. 10 decision by a three-judge panel. That panel said if the Legislature does not pass a new map by mid-January, then the lower court should conduct a trial and “decide on a plan for the 2024 elections.”The political tug-of-war and legal battle over Louisiana’s GOP-drawn congressional map has been going on for more than a year and a half.Louisiana is among states still wrangling over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act.Louisiana’s current map, which was used ...

8th Circuit ruling backs tribes’ effort to force lawmakers to redraw N.D. legislative boundaries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court denied a request on Friday to delay a judge’s decision that North Dakota’s legislative map violates the Voting Rights Act in diluting the voting strength of two Native American tribes.The denial by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes a week before the deadline set by the judge for the state to adopt a new map of legislative districts.Last month, U.S. District Chief Judge Peter Welte ruled that the map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in that it “prevents Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.” He gave North Dakota Republican Secretary of State Michael Howe and the GOP-controlled Legislature until Dec. 22 “to adopt a plan to remedy the violation.”The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe brought the lawsuit early last year. They alleged the 2021 redistricting map “simultaneously packs Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians member...

Two-time All-Star Ja Morant knows he can only convince people he’s learned with action, not words

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two-time All-Star Ja Morant said Friday being suspended by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for the first 25 games of the season has been tough with “some horrible days” as he worked to focus on himself away from basketball.Morant also knows talking about being a better leader for the Memphis Grizzlies won’t be enough.“I can’t, you know, make nobody believe me outside of my actions,” Morant said Friday. “So me answering this question with just words probably won’t mean nothing to nobody.”Morant said basketball has been his therapy during his life and that taking the game away made things tougher. He credited his family, the Grizzlies and others, including therapy, for helping him since Silver handed down Morant’s second suspension in a four-month span in mid-June.The guard first told reporters after the Los Angeles Lakers ousted Memphis in six games to start the playoffs in April that he had to make better decisions, knowing off-the-co...

Village council member in Ukraine sets off hand grenades during a meeting and injures 26

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A village council member in western Ukraine detonated three hand grenades during a meeting Friday, critically injuring himself and at least two dozen other people, authorities said.A video posted on social media showed a man entering a room where the village council of Keretsky was meeting to discuss and approve the community’s budget.The man, who was preliminary identified as Serhii Batryn, a council member who belongs to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, took three grenades from his pockets, removed the pins and threw the weapons on the floor in front of him.Thranscarpathian region police said in an official statement that 26 people were injured, six of them critically. The man who set off the grenades suffered grave injuries and medics worked to save his life, police said. There was no immediate word on a possible motive or if the attack was somehow connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Associated Press

UNC-Chapel Hill names former state budget director as interim chancellor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill named a former state budget director who served under former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory as its interim chancellor Friday.Lee Roberts will temporarily take over for Kevin Guskiewicz, who was announced last week as the next president of Michigan State University. Roberts, a finance executive, is a graduate of rival Duke University and will start in January, according to a UNC-Chapel Hill news release.Amid complaints from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper that “hard right” legislative appointees to the university’s Board of Governors are damaging the institution’s reputation, Roberts said he plans to do the “nonpartisan job” in a “nonpartisan way.”“To be effective in this role, you need to be able to work with Republicans and Democrats and independents and everybody else. That’s what I’ve done in my past roles,” he said in the news release.UNC recently drew national attention when a high-profile tenure fight culminated i...

CPPIB part of joint venture to buy stake in Signature Bank loan portfolio

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:20 GMT

TORONTO — The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is part of a group that has signed a deal to buy a 20 per cent stake in a joint venture that will hold a US$16.8-billion commercial mortgage loan portfolio of Signature Bank, which failed earlier this year.CPPIB, together with Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. and Rialto Capital, have agreed to acquire the stake for US$1.2 billion.The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has held the portfolio since the bank’s failure, will maintain an 80 per cent stake in the venture. The portfolio includes more than 2,600 first mortgage loans on a variety of properties primarily located in the New York metropolitan area. Blackstone will be the lead asset manager of the portfolio and Rialto Capital will act as the loan servicer and operating partner. New York-based Signature Bank was one of the largest U.S. banks to fail earlier this year.This report by The Canadian Press was first publish...