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Auto worker strike creates test of Biden’s goals on labor and climate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of President Joe Biden ‘s top goals — fighting climate change and expanding the middle class by supporting unions — are colliding in the key battleground state of Michigan as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the country’s biggest car companies.The strike involves 13,000 workers so far, less than a tenth of the union’s total membership, but it’s a sharp test of Biden’s ability to hold together an expansive and discordant political coalition while running for reelection. Biden is trying to turbocharge the market for electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent China from solidifying its grip on a growing industry. His signature legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, includes billions of dollars in incentives to get more clean cars on the roads. However, some in the UAW fear the transition will cost jobs because electric vehicles require fewer people to assemble. Although there will be new o...

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un inspects Russian nuclear-capable bombers on a visit to Russia’s Far East

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russian nuclear-capable bombers and other warplanes in Russia’s Far East on Saturday as he continued a trip that has sparked Western concerns about an arms alliance that could fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.After arriving in the city of Artyom by train, Kim traveled to an airport just outside the seaside city of Vladivostok where Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia’s strategic bombers and other warplanes. Seemingly all of the Russian warplanes shown to Kim on Saturday were among those that have seen active use in the war in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles. Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim one of Russia’s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, according to Russia’s De...

Military officers begin to speak out on the harm done by Sen. Tuberville’s holds on promotions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the months since a single senator froze military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, the uniformed officers affected have been largely silent, wary of stepping into a political fray. But as the ramifications of Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s freeze have grown, more of them are speaking out.This week, some of the military’s most senior leaders took the issue head on and voiced their concerns. They said the damage the holds will do to the military will be felt for years, as young talented officers decide they’ve had enough and choose to get out. “We’re on the fringe of losing a generation of champions,” Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, the head Air Combat Command, told reporters this week at a defense conference in Maryland. Kelly said he’s talking to his junior officers, many with families, and they are “people who will take a bullet for the nation, the Constitution.” But when it comes to dragging their family through this, “there’s a red line.”...

A preacher to death row inmates says he wants to end executions. Critics warn he’s only seeking fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — With just weeks left before his scheduled execution, Oklahoma death row inmate Anthony Sanchez took the unusual step of firing his attorneys and skipping a clemency hearing that many viewed as the last chance to spare his life.Sanchez’s decision, and his relationship with an activist pastor who is a spiritual adviser to death row inmates across the country, has drawn fierce criticism from capital defense attorneys and anti-death penalty groups. They say the Rev. Jeff Hood is turning desperate inmates against their lawyers, who are often the last line of defense in a state with one of the busiest death chambers in the country.Hood is a death row minister associated with national anti-capital punishment organization Death Penalty Action. He says his intention is to raise the profile of inmates and draw public attention to their cases to stop executions. Critics say Hood is in it to keep himself in the limelight and raise money for Death Penalty Action.Sanche...

Uncertain and afraid: Florida’s immigrants grapple with a disrupted reality under new law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — For many in Florida’s vast immigrant community, daily life in recent months has become one governed entirely by fear.Some try to drive as little as possible and make fewer trips to the supermarket. Others no longer take their children to the park and worry about allowing them to attend school. Others still are hiding out — avoiding travel to other states, not getting regular medical check-ups, or closing their businesses and leaving town. And many are just on high alert — all because of a new immigration law Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in May.One of the strictest in the nation, the law criminalized transporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status into the state, invalidated any U.S. government identification they might have and blocked local governments from providing them with ID cards. Florida hospitals that receive Medicaid are now mandated to ask patients about immigration status and businesses employing 25 or more people must verify their workers’ leg...

Deliberations in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial head into a second day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Deliberations in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s impeachment trial were set to resume Saturday after a jury of mostly Republican senators met for about eight hours without emerging for a historic vote on whether to convict one of their party’s most powerful figures on corruption charges. The ongoing talks behind closed doors fed a rare lack of assurance about how a vote might go in the Texas Capitol, where a dominant Republican majority typically means that outcomes are seldom in doubt. The trial has plunged Texas Republicans into unfamiliar waters as they confront whether Paxton should be removed over allegations that he abused his office to protect a political donor who was under FBI investigation. If a verdict is not announced by Sunday night, senators may be sequestered in the Capitol until they reach one. The suspense has pushed pushed Paxton, whose three terms in office have been marred by scandal and criminal charges, closer to a defining...

What if public transit was like Uber? A small city ended its bus service to find out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

When a small city abruptly parked all its buses to launch a publicly subsidized van service offering $1.50 trips anywhere in town, only one of its bus drivers — a big-city transplant — went along for the ride.Milton Barnes used to oversee packed subway stations in Washington, D.C., a far cry from the sparsely filled buses he drove after moving to Wilson, North Carolina, to care for his elderly parents. Although transit ridership plummeted almost everywhere due to the pandemic, it has been surging in Wilson since its September 2020 switch from a fixed-route system to an on-demand one powered by a smartphone app.“All day long I’m picking up people and dropping them off,” Barnes, 59, the only driver to work under both systems, said while driving his van on a typically busy morning. “When you’ve got door-to-door, corner-to-corner service, it’s going to be more popular.”Long wait times made the bus route almost unusable for David Bunn, even when his car broke down and he couldn’t a...

Republican presidential hopefuls generally overlook New Hampshire in effort to blunt Trump in Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Once upon a time, the moderates, the mavericks and the underdogs in presidential politics had a chance to break through in New Hampshire.Former Sen. John McCain, an independent-minded Republican, resurrected his anemic campaign with a victory in the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary in 2008. Bill Clinton, a centrist Democrat from Arkansas, became the “comeback kid” by exceeding expectations here in 1992. And little-known Georgia peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, would go on to claim the presidency after winning the state’s 1976 Democratic primary.But this year, New Hampshire’s primary tradition may be little more than a fairy tale as the presidential field largely overlooks the Granite State.Democratic officials, who have rallied behind President Joe Biden, have already decided to bypass New Hampshire in favor of South Carolina. And the crowded Republican field is focusing its money, time and attention on Iowa, betting big that the...

Poland shaken by reports consular officials took bribes to help migrants enter Europe and US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative governing party was hoping to make migration a key campaign theme ahead of the country’s national election. But not like this.The Law and Justice party is being rocked by reports that Polish consulates issued visas in Africa and Asia in exchange for bribes, opening the door for migrants to enter the European Union — which some used as a launching pad to enter the United States.Details about the corruption scandal are coming to light a month ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections Oct. 15, leaving Law and Justice struggling to control the damage. On Friday, a former deputy foreign minister who was dismissed amid reports of his involvement was hospitalized after an apparent suicide attempt.Law and Justice has been the election frontrunner in a field of several parties, and it’s not clear if the affair will dent its support. But opposition politicians have seized on the issue, accusing the government of corruption and hypocrisy, ...

Texas high school football scores for Friday, Sept. 15

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Round Rock scored 10 points in the final 1:10 to top Westwood 24-21 in the Battle for the Bell on Friday at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex.Round Rock running back Moose Garlington punched in a 3-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21-21, and the Dragons quickly put Westwood in a punting situation with 0:33 left. Round Rock came after the punt and blocked it to take over at the Warriors' 18-yard line.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteWith 0:10 left, Round Rock kicker Kai Haruki nailed a 39-yard field goal that ended up being the game-winning score and the first win of the season for the Dragons.In other action around the area, Weiss stayed undefeated following a wild 52-50 win over New Braunfels at The Pfield. Rouse took out Liberty Hill 28-17 and Bastrop topped Pflugerville in overtime 48-42. That game was played in Smit...