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Transgender residents in North Carolina, Montana file lawsuits challenging new state restrictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Transgender residents of North Carolina and Montana added Wednesday to a growing list of lawsuits challenging the recent onslaught of Republican state laws aimed at transgender individuals.The family of a transgender boy in North Carolina is suing state health officials to block implementation of gender-affirming care restrictions that they say will force their son to undergo a traumatic wrong-gender puberty.A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court alleges the new North Carolina law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by denying treatment access to transgender youths and undercuts parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children. In Montana state court, transgender, nonbinary, intersex and other plaintiffs are challenging a new state law defining the term “sex” as meaning only male or female, which they argue denies legal recognition and protections to people who are gender-nonconforming.The complaint argu...

Banker says Trump’s financial statements were key to loan approvals, but there were ‘sanity checks’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans using financial statements that a court has since deemed fraudulent, a retired bank official testified Wednesday at the former president’s New York civil fraud trial.Trump’s “statements of financial condition” were key to his approval for a $125 million loan in 2011 for his golf resort in Doral, Florida, and a $107 million loan in 2012 for his Chicago hotel and condo skyscraper, former Deutsche Bank risk management officer Nicholas Haigh testified.But although the bank didn’t conduct its own full appraisals of Trump’s properties, it sometimes gave sizable “haircuts” to the values he’d placed on such holdings as Trump Tower and his golf courses, Haigh said. “I think the phrase we used might have been ‘sanity checks’ on the numbers,” he said. Those numbers helped Trump secure bigger loans and lower interest rates, said Haigh, who headed the risk group for the bank’s private wealth management uni...

‘Addictive’ social media feeds that keep children online targeted by New York lawmakers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by “addictive” feeds from accounts they don’t follow, under legislation proposed Wednesday. The bills offered by state leaders are aimed at protecting young people from features designed to keep them endlessly scrolling, endangering their mental health and development, Attorney General Letitia James said. “Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame,” James said. “This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy.”The regulations sought by James and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, are similar to rules already in place in Europe, where violations could incur fines worth a percentage of revenue,...

Vermont police release sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

CASTLETON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont State Police on Wednesday released a sketch of a person of interest in the killing of a retired college dean who was shot dead last week while walking on her favorite trail near the Vermont State University campus.The crime has shaken the small college town of Castleton as police warn the public to remain vigilant and said they don’t yet know if the shooting was random or targeted. The composite sketch was created from witnesses’ accounts of a man they saw on the trail before they came across Honoree Fleming’s body, said Capt. Scott Dunlap, commander of the Vermont State Police major crime unit. Fleming died of a gunshot wound to the head while walking along the trail that follows a former railroad bed, police said.The man was described as 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) white male with short, red hair, who appeared to be in his 20s. He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt and carrying a black backpack, and is considered armed and dangerous, police said. Witnes...

His parents shielded him from gunfire as Hamas attacked. He survived. They did not

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

An Israeli-American teenager survived a siege on his home by Hamas attackers over the weekend after his parents shielded him from the gunfire but were killed themselves. The family lived on a kibbutz in southern Israel near the border with Gaza. They had less than a minute to seek safety after being alerted to the attack.As the fighters invaded their home, they scrambled into a tiny room meant to protect them from rocket attacks. Shlomi Mathias had his arm blown off trying to keep the fighters out of the room, relatives said. As fighters peppered the room with gunfire, Debbie Mathias yelled at her son, Rotem, to get down. Then she was shot dead; the bullet traveled through her and hit him in the stomach.Rotem Mathias, 16, stayed underneath his mother and played dead for about 30 minutes before running for shelter under a bed and eventually hiding under a blanket in adjacent laundry room, relatives told The Associated Press. Twice, Rotem Mathias managed to elude the fighters — some o...

Liberals extend amnesty order for ‘assault-style’ firearms until after next election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal government has given itself an extra two years to establish a long-promised buyback program for firearms it banned in the wake of the deadly 2020 Nova Scotia shooting rampage. An amnesty period that was set to expire at the end of the month will now remain in place until Oct. 30, 2025 — after the next federal election is scheduled to take place. On Wednesday, staff quietly added that update to Public Safety Canada’s website, prompting concern from gun-control advocates and, on the other hand, relief for those representing firearms owners and retailers. The amnesty applies to those who own one of the more than 1,500 models and variants of “assault-style” firearms that Ottawa banned, saying guns such as the AR-15 have no place in Canadian communities. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the ban in May 2020, within days of a gunman in Nova Scotia committing the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history. The Liberals promised t...

Skilling: Rainy remainder of the week around Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

Pre-storm "warming" has occurred Wednesday. O'Hare's 66-deg high made this the warmest day of the past 6—but follows a 42-deg nighttime low at O'Hare—tying with the city's coolest low temp of the season recorded yesterday.It was frosty inland this morning with lows of 27 at Shabbona, 29 at McHenry, Rockford and Elwood; 30 on the ground of Midewin Tallgrass Prairie and 31 at Huntley and Naperville.  The arrival of clouds and moister air means tonight's temps will be far milder.A BLUSTERY, WET AUTUMN STORM SYSTEM centered late Wednesday over Colorado is headed toward toward the Chicago area.  The system is a slow moving and is to dominate Chicago's weather through the coming weekend and into early next week.  TOTAL ESTIMATED RAINFALL is to reach to 1.50" to 3.50" range—making the multiday rain this system generates the heaviest to reach the Chicago area in the 3 months since early July.Rain has been spreading north through Illinois Wednesday and will overspread the Chicago area Wed ev...

Restraining order filed against Chicago to block Amundsen Park Fieldhouse migrant shelter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

CHICAGO -- Mayor Brandon Johnson's office said they have put plans around turning Amundsen Park Fieldhouse into a migrant shelter on hold, but community members are having a tough time believing the decision.For more than a week, many in the Austin and Galewood communities have been pushing back the city's decision to convert the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse into a migrant shelter.At least five residents filed an emergency Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Tuesday to block the city from going back on their word about moving migrants into the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse.WGN-TV have reached out to the Chicago Clerk's Office for comment, but have not heard back.Now, there are discussions to house migrants at a vacant building near the park and residents believe that to be a better option because of programming and resources that won't be taken away from them.As of Wednesday, the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse remains accessible to West Side residents, fall programs continue.

36 October festivals and events happening across Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

CHICAGO — The leaves are changing all across Chicagoland, and those looking for something to do — whether its in Northbrook or Northwest Indiana — can find a fall-themed activity for the whole family (or an adults-only night out) in this list of three dozen festivals and events happening this October.Chicago-AreaOct. 13, 6:30-10 p.m. — Tacos and tequila FestEnjoy a variety of tacos and tequila cocktails or dance to live music or a DJ—all while enjoying views of beautiful gardens and incredible animals without kids, strollers or crowds At Tacos and Tequila Fest at the Lincoln Park Zoo! This after-hours event is for adults 21+ only! Beer, wine, seltzer and other canned cocktails will be available as well.Event tickets include exclusive after-hours, limited-capacity access to Lincoln Park Zoo.This event will feature pop-up bars with canned tequila cocktails, margaritas and other adult beverages for purchase throughout the zoo, specialty tacos crafted by the chefs at Levy Restaurants av...

Mary Lou Retton's daughters give update: 'She's still fighting'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:54 GMT

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — The daughters of Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton said on Wednesday that the family is trying to keep details private as their mom continues fighting a rare form of pneumonia in an intensive care unit.Retton's daughter Shayla Kelley Schrepfer shared a video on her Instagram account saying that her mom is "still fighting" in the ICU, but "it's going to be a day-by-day process." "Thank you so much for all the love and support that you've given to my mom. My sisters and I are overwhelmed," Schrepfer said. "We didn't even realize that there are so many people out there that love her just as much as we do. And it's been a really hard time for our family. Just seeing that people love her like that and showing her that support, it just meant the world to us and to her. So, thank you."Retton's daughters are asking that the public continue to respect her privacy and boundaries as they keep most of the details of her condition private. Although they have not sp...