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Why this Towson U. economist is calling for Maryland to grow its population

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

Maryland needs to grow its population as part of an effort to grow its economy and pull itself out of a budgetary morass, according to one economist.That message comes just weeks before lawmakers head to Annapolis next month facing a series of difficult budgetary decisions as federal pandemic aid dries up.A state economy over-dependent on jobs tied to the federal government is not firing on all cylinders as some employers, including state government, struggle to fill open positions, said Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University.“I would argue the only way we can do this successfully is to grow our population and grow the number of businesses,” said Irani. “If we don’t do that, we’re just going to shrink. And that’s going to be the end of the investment challenge.”Irani’s assessment to county leaders, who gathered in Cambridge this week at the Maryland Association of Counties winter conference, was delivered as state and local g...

Abortion delays have grown more common in the US since Roe v. Wade was overturned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

A woman whose fetus was unlikely to survive called more than a dozen abortion clinics before finding one that would take her, only to be put on weekslong waiting lists. A teen waited seven weeks for an abortion because it took her mother that long to get her an appointment. Others seeking the procedure faced waits because they struggled to travel hundreds of miles for care.Such obstacles have grown more common since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, doctors and researchers say, causing delays that can lead to abortions that are more complex, costly and in some cases riskier — especially as pregnancies get further along.About half of U.S. states now have laws that ban or restrict access to abortion. Because of that, many clinics don’t offer the procedure, which has increased demand for appointments at the remaining providers.At various points since Roe, waits in several states stretched for two or three weeks, and some clinics had no available appointments, according to result...

Technology built the cashless society. Advances are helping the unhoused so they’re not left behind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Littlejohn remembers the days when lots of people had a couple of dollars to spare to buy a copy of Street Sense, the local paper that covers issues related to the homeless and employs unhoused individuals as its vendors.Today, he’s finding fewer people are walking around with spare change. Even well-meaning individuals who want to help are likely to pat their pockets and apologize, he said.“I would be out here for six or seven hours and wouldn’t get more than $12 to $15,” said Littlejohn, 62, who was homeless for 13 years. “People are like, ‘I don’t leave the house with cash.’”But just as technological shifts helped create the problem, further advances are now helping charitable groups and advocates for the unhoused reach those most in danger of being left behind in a cashless society.A special Street Sense phone app allows people to buy a copy electronically and have the profits go straight to him. Thanks to Social Security and his income f...

5 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ 4th straight win, including Coby White’s hot night and a 1st from Victor Wembanyama

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

The Chicago Bulls aren’t slowing down.Led by another hot night from Coby White, the Bulls won their fourth consecutive game without Zach LaVine in a 121-112 finish against the host San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.The Bulls are on their longest winning streak since February 2022. The game also extended the Spurs’ skid to 16 games, the second-longest in the league. The Detroit Pistons lost their 19th straight Friday.Here are five takeaways from the win.1. Another resurgent 3rd quarter rescues the Bulls.It took the Bulls a full half to warm up. While the Spurs shot 50% from behind the arc, the Bulls couldn’t crack 40% from the field in the opening half, taking a 63-52 deficit into the locker room.The Bulls went on a 12-0 run to erase their deficit in the third quarter, retaking the lead with just less than five minutes left in the frame when Coby White sank his fourth 3-pointer of the night. The Bulls outscored the Spurs 35-20 in the third. The Spurs were within one...

Ukraine condemns planned Russian presidential election in occupied territory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Saturday strongly condemned Russia’s plans to hold presidential elections on occupied Ukrainian territory in the spring. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called the planned elections “null and void” and pledged that any international observers sent to monitor them would “face criminal responsibility.”Lawmakers in Russia on Thursday set the country’s 2024 presidential election for March 17.Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the election. He is all but certain to win.Russian authorities plan to arrange voting in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — territories Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in September last year but does not fully control — together with the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.The announcement of the presidential election follows local elections for Russian-installed legislatur...

Turkey’s Erdogan accuses the West of ‘barbarism’ and Islamophobia in the war in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a speech on human rights Saturday to accuse the West of “barbarism” for its stance on the Israel-Hamas war and what he alleged was its toleration of Islamophobia.“Israel has carried out atrocities and massacres that will shame the whole of humanity,” Erdogan told a packed hall in Istanbul the day before the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.“All the values relating to humanity are being murdered in Gaza. In the face of such brutality, international institutions and human rights organizations are not taking any concrete steps to prevent such violations,” the Turkish leader said.The human rights declaration, proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, enshrines a standard for human rights and freedoms for all people.Referring to Friday’s U.S. veto of a United Nations resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, Erdogan said a fairer world was poss...

Protests at UN climate talks, from Israel-Hamas war to detainees, see ‘shocking level of censorship’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Activists designated Saturday a day of protest at the COP28 summit in Dubai. But the rules of the game in the tightly controlled United Arab Emirates meant sharp restrictions on what demonstrators could say, where they could walk and what their signs could portray.At times, the controls bordered on the absurd. A small group of demonstrators protesting the detention of activists — one from Egypt and two from the UAE — were not allowed to hold up signs bearing their names. A late afternoon demonstration of around 500 people, the largest seen at the climate conference, couldn’t go beyond the United Nations-governed Blue Zone in this autocratic nation. And their calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip couldn’t actually name the country involved. “It is a shocking level of censorship in a space that had been guaranteed to have basic freedoms protected like freedom of expression, assembly and association,” Joey Shea, ...

Tom Skilling to receive honorary doctorate from NIU

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

For the last 45 years, WGN employees have just known him as "Tom," but now we might need to start calling him Doctor Skilling.Skilling will be receiving an honorary doctorate of science from Northern Illinois University. Related: Tom Skilling announces retirement The school's board calls our very own Tom Skilling "a passionate educator, trailblazer, and an advocate for climate awareness."He will receive his honorary doctorate degree next fall.In October, he announce will retire next year after 45 years at WGN. His last day on air will be February 28, 2024.

US and Mexico submit joint bid to host 2027 Women's World Cup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Soccer Federation and Mexico Football Federation submitted a joint bid Friday to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup projecting $3 billion in revenue, competing against a proposal from Brazil and a joint Germany-Netherlands-Belgium plan.The anticipated revenue in North America would be a huge increase from this year's tournament in Australia and New Zealand, which FIFA said totaled more than $570 million.Brazil's bid estimated competition revenue at $99 million, a figure that did not include broadcast money. The European bid said it had “a target revenue well above what the FIFA Women’s World Cup has reached before."The US-Mexico bid book proposed U.S. sites from among the same 11 to be used in the 2026 men's World Cup, according to the document released by FIFA: Arlington, Texas; Atlanta; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Houston; Inglewood, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Miami Gardens, Florida; Philadelphia; Santa Clara, California; an...

6 Christmas films set in and around Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:58:31 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — With Christmas less than three weeks away, there's a good chance you're rewatching some holiday classics as you trim your tree or wrap gifts. As you do, you may notice a trend: many of the greats are set in Chicago. There are a few that probably come to mind pretty quickly. The city, as you likely know, can look quite dazzling around the holidays, especially if there's a gentle snow falling. So as you settle in for a long winter's rewatch of those Christmas classics, here are 7 that were set in Chicago. National Lampoon's Christmas VacationWhile the opening scene of the movie is most definitely not set in Illinois, the Griswold family is said to live in the Chicago area. The 1989 film did not, however, take over an entire Chicago suburb for filming. Instead, the Griswold house was located on a Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California. How much Christmas lights add to your — and Clark Griswold’s — electric bill Other scenes — those set at Walmart, the sledding hill, the...