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Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney won’t seek reelection in 2024, marking end to decadeslong political career

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

By MICHELLE L. PRICE (Associated Press)Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he will not run for reelection, opting to exit the political stage after a two-decade career in public service that included the 2012 Republican GOP nomination for president and a term as Massachusetts governor.The 76-year-old made the announcement in a video statement in which he noted that he would be in his mid-80s at the end of another six-year Senate term and said the country is ready for younger politicians.“Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders,” he said. “They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.As the GOP’s 2016 nominee for the White House, Romney campaigned across America as a buttoned-up former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive. But with Donald Trump’s populist rise as the party’s dominant figure, Romney’s brand of Republicanism shifted from ...

NBA adopts a new load management policy. Here’s what it means for 3 Chicago Bulls stars this season.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

The era of load management is coming to a close — or at least that’s the goal of a new NBA policy for the 2023-24 season.The NBA Board of Governors voted Wednesday to approve a new player participation policy that will fine teams for resting multiple stars in any game. The policy will require teams to make stars available for nationally televised and in-season tournament games, balance players’ absences between home and away games and avoid “shutdown” periods that sideline otherwise healthy players during stretches.Star players will also be required to be visible and available to fans during their rest games, a holdover from the previous player participation policy set in 2017.The league will investigate teams for violations of these new policies, with $100,000 fines for first-time offenses, $250,000 for the second and $1.25 million for the third. Fines will continue to increase at a rate of $1 million for any subsequent violations.Since this is a leagu...

Autoworkers strike would test Biden’s claim that he’s the most pro-union president in US history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

By WILL WEISSERT and JOEY CAPPELLETTI (Associated Press)LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The prospect of an autoworkers strike could test Joe Biden’s treasured assertion that he’s the most pro-union president in U.S. history. The United Auto Workers is threatening to strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, if tentative contact agreements aren’t reached by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. That could reshape the political landscape in the battleground state of Michigan and potentially unleash economic shockwaves nationwide. The auto industry accounts for about 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product and though union leaders say they are mulling strikes at a small number of factories run by those automakers, as many as 146,000 workers could eventually walk off their jobs. The effects would be most immediate in Michigan and other auto job-heavy states such as Ohio and Indiana. But a prolonged strike could trigger car shortages and layoffs in auto-supply industrie...

Patriots’ entire starting offensive line is now dealing with injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

FOXBORO — The Patriots’ offensive line injury woes are not going away.Patriots starting left tackle Trent Brown missed practice Wednesday with a concussion, according to the team’s injury report. Rookie Sidy Sow, who started Sunday’s season opener at right guard, also didn’t practice due to a concussion.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Can Mac Jones take next step for Patriots in Week 2 vs. Dolphins? New England Patriots | Patriots offensive line gets bad news at Wednesday practice before Dolphins game New England Patriots | Bill Belichick cagey with injury updates on three offensive starters New England Patriots | Source: Patriots signing ex-Eagles, Saints QB to practice squad New England Patriots | Patriots rookie Marte Mapu doesn’t know what position he’ll play, so he learned them all Here’s the full list of Patriots injuries:DID NOT PARTICIPATEOT ...

Earth is outside its ‘safe operating space for humanity’ on most key measurements, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP Science Writer)Earth is exceeding its “safe operating space for humanity” in six of nine key measurements of its health, and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study said.Earth’s climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution and “novel” chemicals (human-made compounds like microplastics and nuclear waste) are all out of whack, a group of international scientists said in Wednesday’s journal Science Advances. Only the acidity of the oceans, the health of the air and the ozone layer are within the boundaries considered safe, and both ocean and air pollution are heading in the wrong direction, the study said.“We are in very bad shape,” said study co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “We show in this analysis that the planet is losing resilience and the patient is sick.”In 2009, Rockstrom and othe...

Federal judge blocks suspension of right to carry firearms in public ordered by New Mexico governor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked part of a public health order that suspended the right to carry guns in public across New Mexico’s largest metro area.The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge David Urias marks a setback for Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as she responds to several recent shootings that took the lives of children, including an 11-year-old boy as he left a minor league baseball game in Albuquerque.Lujan Grisham imposed an emergency public health order Friday that suspended the right to open or concealed carry of guns in public places based on a statistical threshold for violent crime that is only encountered in Albuquerque and its outskirts. The governor cited recent shootings around the state that left children dead, saying something needed to be done. Still, she acknowledged that criminals would ignore the order.Violators would have faced civil penalties and a fine of up to $5,000 by State Police. The local sheriff and Albuq...

S&P/TSX composite posts small gain Wednesday, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index posted a small gain Wednesday while U.S. stock markets were mixed after the latest report on inflation south of the border showed an acceleration in August. U.S. inflation last month was 3.7 per cent year-over-year, up from 3.2 per cent in July. All eyes were on the report as it’s the last major economic data point before next week’s U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decision, said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments.“There was some fear that we’d see a fairly material pickup in inflation,” he said. The headline number was slightly higher than anticipated, pulled up by rising gas prices, but there was nothing in the report to change investors’ expectations for the Fed’s decision, said Taylor — the central bank is widely expected to hold its key rate. Expectations are still split on whether it will hold again or hike in November, he added.“While (inflation) did pick up from where it was earlier in the summer, i...

Man accused of killing Purdue University dormitory roommate found fit for trial after hospital stay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — A man charged with murder in the stabbing death of his Purdue University dormitory roommate has been found competent to stand trial, court records show.Doctors at Logansport State Hospital found Ji Min Sha competent for trial after months of treatment, a Tuesday court filing shows.Sha “has attained the ability to understand the proceedings and assist in the preparation of his defense,” hospital Superintendent Bethany Schoenradt wrote in a letter to Tippecanoe Circuit Judge Sean Persin.The judge in April found Sha unfit for trial in the death of 20-year-old Varun Manish Chheda of Indianapolis in October 2022. Persin at that time found that Sha had reported hallucinations and experienced chronic psychosis and delusional thoughts while in jail.Persin directed the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office to take Sha to the county jail.A status conference in the case has been scheduled for Sept. 29.A telephone message seeking comment was left for Sha’s lead attorne...

30 years after Oslo, Israeli foreign minister rejects international dictates on Palestinian issue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister on Wednesday said that Israel would not cave in to foreign dictates on its treatment of the Palestinians — in comments that came in a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Oslo peace accords. The remarks by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen underscored the deterioration of Mideast peace efforts since the historic interim peace deal. Substantive negotiations have not taken place in years, and Israel is led by a far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood.“Israel will not submit to external dictates on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Cohen said in the meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, according to a statement from his office. Cohen told Huitfeldt that Israel will continue to work toward normalizing relations with other countries in the Middle East. Israel reached diplomatic accords with four Arab countries under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in...

UFOs, little green men: Mexican lawmakers hear testimony on possible existence of extraterrestrials

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:11 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Supposed aliens landed in Mexico’s Congress but there were no saucer-shaped UFOs hovering over the historic building or bright green invaders like those seen in Hollywood films.The specter of little green men visited Mexico City as lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday from individuals suggesting the possibility that extraterrestrials might exist. The researchers hailed from Mexico, the United States, Japan and Brazil.The session, unprecedented in the Mexican Congress, took place two months after a similar one before the U.S. Congress in which a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer claimed his country has probably been aware of “non-human” activity since the 1930sJournalist José Jaime Maussan presented two boxes with supposed mummies found in Peru, which he and others consider “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution.”The shriveled bodies with shrunken, warped heads left those in the chamber aghast and quickly kicked up a social med...