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New York City police commissioner, first woman to lead department, resigns after 18 months

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman to hold the position, is stepping down after 18 months on the job.Sewell, who was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, announced the resignation in an email to department staff Monday afternoon. “While my time here will come to a close, I will never step away from advocacy and support for the NYPD, and I will always be a champion for the people of New York City,” she wrote.Adams, a Democrat, confirmed the move in a statement, thanking Sewell for her “steadfast leadership.”Sewell took over as commissioner when Adams became mayor in January 2022, having pledged beforehand to name a woman to the post.Adams, a former police captain, took an outsized interest in the department’s operations compared with other mayors. Since Sewell’s appointment, Adams has faced questions about whether she has been granted the autonomy of past commissioners.Almost immediately after taking office, Adams hired former NYPD Chie...

O’Toole warns of ‘performance politics,’ social media perils in final Commons address

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Erin O’Toole is warning members of Parliament about the dangers of “performance politics” and says social media is robbing the chamber of real debate, in his final address in the House of Commons.The former Conservative leader and Ontario MP rose for the last time to address the Commons before he is set to retire from federal politics at the end of the month. O’Toole was first elected in a byelection in 2012 and served as parliamentary secretary to the trade minister at the time under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper, before being appointed as minister for veterans affairs. After the Conservatives lost government, O’Toole placed third in the party’s 2017 leadership race to replace Harper, but ultimately won its 2020 leadership contest. He led the party through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and was eventually voted out by his own caucus in early 2022 after losing the 2021 federal election and considerable internal ...

Chicago police respond to weekend violence, video posted after shooting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

CHICAGO — More than 30 people were shot, four fatally, this past weekend in Chicago, according to data from police.On Monday afternoon, police held a press conference regarding their efforts over the past weekend. CPD Search: Man in connection to homicide in Greater Grand Crossing "In addition to our residential neighborhoods and business corridors, our officers worked to safeguard our beaches and lakefronts," CPD Interim Superintendent Fred Waller said.Waller said there was a large presence of officers at the 45th Annual Puerto Rican Parade and Festival to respond to any possible unruly crowds or conflicts. The department recognized organizers and officers for a successful event. "The success was just team and collaboration on everyone's part," CPD Deputy Chief Roberto Nieves said. "The commander from the 14th District, Commander Collazo, did a fabulous job with her team and worked with the organizers and the entire community." READ MORE | Latest Chicago crime news Jose Lopez, ...

15-year-old boy missing from Oak Forest area, police say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

OAK FOREST, Ill. — The Oak Forest Police Department is looking for the public's help in finding a 15-year-old boy who left his residence early Monday morning.15-year-old David Bellinger and his bicycle. (Courtesy: Oak Forest Police)According to police, David Bellinger left his Oak Forest residence around 5:45 a.m. and was last seen wearing all black clothing with a light, multi-colored backpack on his bicycle. Bellinger is 5-foot-8-inches tall and weighs around 150 pounds.Police said Bellinger recently moved from Hanover Park to Oak Forest and that he may be headed to see friends in Carol Stream, Bartlett, or Hanover Park. If you have any information that could help police find Bellinger, Oak Forest PD encourages you to reach out to Sgt. Burnett or Sgt. Hanlon at 708-687-1376.

Skilling: Cloudy, cooler start to the week with chances of rain Tuesday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

We head into a week which opens unseasonably cool—but it's to warm to seasonal levels by this weekend. Until then each day this week is to produce below normal full day average tempsMoisture levels here remain anemic, to say the least—a continuation of the multi-month pattern which started just past a week into April and has the area in an officially declared state of moderate drought.The weekend rain system produced a paltry 0.05" of rain at both Chicago's airports—and only a trace of rain had occurred in the 21 days which had come before at Midway Airport.The area has seen just 37% of its "normal" rain since April 1----only 3.66" has fallen compared to the 9.79" we expect to see during that period. That means rainfall in Chicago is running more than a half foot (6.13" to be precise) below normal in what amounts to nearly the past 2.5 months.There is some rain in our future—perhaps a quarter inch to as much at 0.60" in the coming 36 hours—more than occurred over the weekend.The sam...

Gov. Pritzker signs Illinois anti-book banning bill into law

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed into law a bill that he says will make Illinois the first state in the nation to outlaw book bans.Illinois public libraries that restrict or ban materials because of “partisan or doctrinal” disapproval will be ineligible for state funding as of Jan. 1, 2024, when the new law goes into effect. The bill closing the Illinois property tax loophole may help residents buy abandoned homes “We are not saying that every book should be in every single library,” said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is also the state librarian and was the driving force behind the legislation. “What this law does is it says, let’s trust our experience and education of our librarians to decide what books should be in circulation.”The new law comes into play as states across the U.S. push to remove certain books in schools and libraries, especially those about LGBTQ+ themes and by people of color. The American...

When will you have to start paying your student loans again? Education Department explains

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - While federal student loan borrowers are still in a bit of limbo as the Supreme Court continues mulling President Joe Biden's debt relief plan, the Department of Education has offered a bit of clarification regarding impending payments. Borrowers haven’t been required to make regular payments on their debt since March 2020 when then-President Trump started the freeze in response to the COVID pandemic. It’s been extended multiple times since, including the most recent extension issued by Biden in November, which he called the final such move.  Biden vetoes measure overturning student loan forgiveness plan As part of the debt bill Biden signed earlier this month, the pause can't be extended again. Since then, it hasn't been clear when exactly borrowers would be on the hook again for payments. That changed Monday when the Education Department shared new information. "Student loan interest will resume starting on Sept. 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in Oct...

Adult in critical condition after reported UT West Campus stabbing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for June 12, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) — One person was taken to the hospital Monday with critical, life-threatening injuries after a reported stabbing in West Campus near the University of Texas at Austin, Austin-Travis County EMS told KXAN.Austin Police said it responded to a shooting/stabbing hot shot call around 11:53 a.m. near West 22nd 1/2 Street and Rio Grande Street. APD said it was an ongoing investigation.University of Texas police said it assisted with an aggravated assault investigation at that location, according to UTPD's social media. One man was detained, UTPD said."Neither suspect nor victim are UT-affiliated. Due to the speedy apprehension, there was no threat to our UT campus community," UTPD said in the post.One person was taken to the hospital Monday with critical, life-threatening injuries after a reported stabbing in West Campus near the University of Texas, Austin-Travis County EMS said. (KXAN photo...

1 in 5 Central Texas kids go to bed hungry

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Summer break is not always a good thing for all Central Texas families with food insecurity on the rise."Last summer, district-wide, we served about 20,000 meals," Chris Weddle, Del Vale ISD executive director of communications, said. ‘They were eating one meal a day’: More college students face food insecurity Del Valle ISD is one of many districts in Central Texas that offers free meals during the summer, not only to students but to community members, as well."During the school year a lot of our families depend on our school meals and that is really an extension of that into the summer," Weddle said. "We are very proud to be able to open up five of our locations for summer meals for anyone in the community 18 and under to come."Bahar DiFranco, who has three kids in Del Valle ISD, said she's happy to see these programs."It allows us time to be together, the kids like coming to the school," DiFranco said. "It helps financially because then I don't have to think abo...

Nicholas Kristof: The revolution on your plate

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:25 GMT

In 1971, a half-dozen graduate students at Oxford University held what was perhaps the first protest of the modern animal rights movement. They insisted that respecting animals was a moral imperative.And the world changed.No, not right away. But one of those students, a young Australian philosopher named Peter Singer, turned his ideas into a transformative 1975 book, “Animal Liberation,” that was initially mocked for overreach. “The animal movement was still widely seen as crackpot,” Singer recalls.Yet to anyone who thinks that ideas are irrelevant in a practical age, think again. His arguments stirred a slow-motion revolution that has changed the way we treat other animals.Singer has just issued a new edition of the book, updated and titled “Animal Liberation Now.” It’s a monument to the remarkable spread of the ideas he articulated in 1975. At least nine states and the European Union now ban veal crates, hen cages or tight stalls for sows. The top supermarket chains in America hav...