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Former NFL defensive end Chris Smith dead at 31

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Former NFL defensive end Chris Smith, who was touched by tragedy while he played for the Cleveland Browns, has died. He was 31.Smith’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and the Browns confirmed his passing on Tuesday. The cause of death was not immediately known.“Rest in Peace Chris,” Rosenhaus wrote on Twitter. “Condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. We will miss you.”Smith played for the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons this season. He previously spent eight seasons in the NFL with Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Houston.While Smith was with the Browns in 2019, his girlfriend, Petara Cordero, was killed when she was hit by a car after she exited the vehicle he was driving. Cordero was standing on the road’s shoulder when the vehicle driven by a 47-year-old woman smashed into the passenger side of Smith’s car.“Chris was one of the kindest players and people that I’ve ever met,” Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett said. “He was willing ...

Indiana Senate approves handgun training fund for teachers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana state Senators advanced a bill Tuesday that would make state funding available for teachers seeking firearms training, a move critics have said could increase the number of guns in school to the detriment of students.The 42-8 vote comes after this past weekend’s three-day National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis, which fell on the second anniversary of a mass shooting in the city at a FedEx facility that killed nine people.The House bill first advanced in February, amid teachers’ objections that having additional guns in schools would worsen school safety. On Tuesday, two Democrats joined all Republican state Senators in voting for the bill.Supporters have said the 40 hours of optional training would help teachers learn how to defend themselves and students if needed, especially in situations with an active shooter. State law currently allows school districts to permit teachers to be armed, but no training is mandated. The propose...

Abortion foes urge justices to allow limits on abortion drug

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for anti-abortion doctors on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to allow restrictions to take effect on a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, while a lawsuit continues.The justices are weighing a request from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, makers of the drug mifepristone, to keep on hold lower-court rulings restricting mifepristone’s use. The high court is expected to act in the fast-moving case from Texas by late Wednesday.Alliance Defending Freedom, representing doctors and medical groups in a challenge to Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug, argued in a court filing that the FDA “has stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion, demonstrating callous disregard for women’s well-being, unborn life, and statutory limits.” The legal brief by the anti-abortion doctors called particular attention to what it termed “mail-order abortion,...

Hunger is soaring and spreading across West Africa, says UN

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Hunger is soaring and spreading across West Africa, with some 48 million people, a 10-year-high, facing food insecurity in the conflict-riddled region, the United Nations warned Tuesday.Driven primarily by violence as well as the economic fallout from COVID-19 and inflation, food insecurity has heavily impacted Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria and Mauritania, U.N. officials said at a press conference in Senegal’s capital, Dakar. U.N. officials said that for the first time, some 45,000 people in the Sahel region, the arid expanse below the Sahara Desert, are on the brink of starvation, one step away from famine. The vast majority facing catastrophic levels of hunger, 42,000, are in Burkina Faso, the officials reported.“The situation is worrying,” said Ann Defraye, a regional nutrition specialist for UNICEF in West and Central Africa. “Last year, we saw a large increase (31%) in the numbers of children admitted to health facilities with severe wa...

Ontario Science Centre to move to Ontario Place, province confirms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

The Ford government confirmed Tuesday that it intends to move the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place.Ontario Tourism Minister Neil Lumsden says the science centre will move to the waterfront site in 2025 and remain open in its current location in the city’s east end until then.The province said it intends to revamp Ontario Place into a year-round destination with expanded parkland, beaches, waterfront access, and family-friendly fun.“We’re bringing more to Ontario Place with more beaches, more greenspace, more trails and more fun with the Ontario Science Centre, a year-round Live Nation concert venue and expanded food and beverage offerings so families can enjoy a meal together,” Premier Doug Ford said in a release.The Ontario Science Centre will be housed in a custom-built, state-of-the-art facility, as well as in the upgraded Cinesphere and Pod complex.The redevelopment of the Ontario Place site has been in the works for years.The attraction, which opened in...

Some 200 long-term care residents forced to move from troubled Montreal facilities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

MONTREAL — Some 200 vulnerable residents are being forced to move out of two Montreal-area long-term care homes that were put under trusteeship last fall amid allegations of poor treatment.The health authority representing western Montreal has confirmed that all the residents of the Floralies Lachine and Floralies LaSalle homes are being relocated out of concern for their health and safety.A report by a retired Health Department employee made public last fall alleged “abuse in all its forms” at the privately owned residences, including violence and negligence on the part of employees.The two residences were put under trusteeship on Sept. 1, 2022, shortly after a streptococcus A outbreak last summer killed six people.The health authority says the situation at the residences has stabilized but the move is necessary to ensure the long-term well-being of residents. The management of the Floralies residences say they were shocked by the news and worried about the impact the m...

FACT FOCUS: NYC crime is not worst ever, despite claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Following Monday’s congressional hearing on violent crime in New York City, claims spread across social media that the bad old days are back in the nation’s largest city.Conservatives and other users widely shared a video clip of New York City Councilman Robert Holden, who testified at the special hearing in Manhattan that he’s “never seen the lawlessness” he’s seen today in his lifetime.“DEMOCRAT city councilman Robert Holden has lived in New York City for 71 years,” Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee that held the hearing tweeted, along with a clip of the Queens lawmaker’s testimony. “He’s never seen crime this bad.”But experts and city officials say crime across the five boroughs is nowhere near the levels seen in the 1990s, and while there was a rise in 2022, those figures are already trending down this year. Here’s a closer look at the facts.CLAIM: Crime in New York City is the worst it’s ever been, especially in the borough of Manhattan where Trump fa...

What we know and don’t know about video of downtown beating

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

CHICAGO — A video circulating online that appears to show a large group of young people grabbing, punching and attacking a woman in downtown Chicago has been seen more than 14 million times since it was posted by a local crime blog CWB.The images are horrifying.  A woman screams as the group corners her against a distinctive set of doors, reportedly at 129 N. Wabash in Chicago’s Loop.  In a split second, a large group of young people begin punching and kicking the woman as she appears to fall to the ground and isn’t seen again.  The clip is just 20 seconds long and was captioned with the words “Yay we get active.” An initial report to police reported an attack one block away, in the 100 Block of N. Michigan Avenue leading to some confusion. After all, there were multiple altercations that evening. On Tuesday, investigators re-classified the location of the attack as indeed being in the 100 Block of N. Wabash.  The narrative police shared with the media isn’t very...

George Santos unveils MINAJ Act to limit vaccine mandates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

(The Hill) - Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is giving a nod to Nicki Minaj’s famous COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, appearing to name a new bill after the rapper.The “Medical Information Nuanced Accountability Judgement Act,” or MINAJ Act, H.R. 2631, introduced Tuesday by Santos, would prohibit the federal government from imposing “any mandate requiring an individual to receive a vaccine that has not been authorized for marketing for at least ten years unless a public health emergency is declared.”Santos’s office didn’t immediately confirm to ITK that the legislation’s name served as an homage-of-sorts to the “Super Freaky Girl” singer. News of the bill was first reported by Semafor.In 2021, Minaj made headlines and was widely mocked after sharing on social media that her cousin’s account of his friend’s vaccination played a part in her decision not to receive a shot protecting herself against the coronavirus.“My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it...

Middle-income households gained $122,000 in home value after decade of soaring prices, analysis finds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:29:15 GMT

(The Hill) - Home price growth over the past decade drastically increased the wealth of homeowners across all income levels, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).NAR’s report found the value of homes middle-income homeowners purchased rose by more than $122,000 since 2012 — a gain of 68 percent. Low-income and upper-income homeowners accumulated $98,900 and $150,800 in higher home values, respectively.Homeowners who lived in some of the nation’s most expensive metros, like San Jose, Calif., saw the largest gains. In the San Jose metro, low-income owners have accumulated nearly $630,000 in the last decade, and middle-income owners gained $643,000, according to the report. For the report, NAR used the American Community Survey’s Public Microdata Sample to estimate the homeownership rate and the median home value of homes owned across the income spectrum and racial and ethnic groups at the national and metro level. "This analysis show...