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2 massacres, 2 different decisions: How does the DOJ decide who should face death?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Two separate shootings 2,000 miles (3,218 kilometers) apart. One killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The other killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Both were motivated by racial hate. Both involved gunmen who later claimed mental illness.But earlier this year, the Justice Department authorized the death penalty only for the case in Pittsburgh, where jurors will soon answer the weightiest of questions: Should Robert Bowers be put to death?Bowers’ trial is in the penalty phase after his June conviction for the 2018 antisemitic attack. A federal judge last Friday gave Patrick Crusius the maximum available sentence for the 2019 Walmart attack on Hispanics: life in prison. He pleaded guilty after the department took a death sentence off the table.Contrasting decisions in such similar cases illustrates the department’s murky, often baffling and seemingly inconsistent death penalty policies. Department decision-making and the criteria it favors are also shrouded ...

Iowa’s restrictive abortion measure faces legal challenge as governor prepares to sign it into law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa judge on Friday afternoon will consider a request to postpone the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, just as Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to sign the measure into law in front of 2,000 conservative Christians barely a mile away.The split screen punctuates a bitter battle between abortion advocates and opponents in Iowa that has dragged on for years and will likely, for now, remain unresolved as the courts assess the law’s constitutionality.Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy but will be far more restricted when Reynolds puts pen to paper Friday — unless or until the district court judge issues a temporary hold.The new legislation prohibits almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. The bill passed with exclusively Republican support late on Tuesday at the conclusion of a rare, 14...

Death Valley visitors drawn to the hottest spot on Earth during ongoing US heat wave

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons.Even as the already extreme temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.“I was really noticing, you know, I didn’t feel so hot, but my body was working really hard to cool myself,” said Jusehus, an active runner who was visiting from Germany. His photo showed the thermometer reading at 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius).Most visitors at this time of year make it only a short distance to any site in the park — which bills itself as the lowest, hottest and driest place on Earth — before returning to the sanctuary of an air-conditioned vehicle. T...

Ex-officers at federal women’s prison in California plead guilty to multiple sex abuse counts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two former officers of a federal women’s prison in California pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple counts of sexual abuse, the latest to be prosecuted following an Associated Press investigation last year resulting in prison sentences for the former warden and chaplain. Andrew Jones, a former cook supervisor at Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, pleaded guilty to six felony charges of sexual abuse of three women he supervised, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday. Nakie Nunley, a guard at the prison call center, pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual abuse and five lesser felonies of abusive sexual contact of five women. Both also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the government. The two men will enter pleas and be sentenced at later dates. They are at least the seventh and eighth former employees charged with abusing inmates after an investigation by The Associated Press last year revealed a harrowing culture of rampant abuse and c...

Beijing says it warned Japanese fishing boat in waters near Japan-held islands claimed by China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China says its coast guard issued a warning to a Japanese fishing boat operating in waters surrounding uninhabited East China Sea islands that are controlled by Japan but claimed by China. The warning is the latest event pointing to lingering tensions between the sides, just over a week after China’s senior diplomat, Wang Yi, made controversial comments suggesting China, Japan and South Korea should establish an alliance based on cultural and racial similarities in order to exclude the U.S. and other Western-style democracies. State media ran a statement just before midnight Thursday quoting coast guard spokesperson Gan Yu saying a Chinese vessel issued a “warning to depart” to the Japanese fishing boat Zuiho Maru on Thursday near the the island known as Chiwei Yu in Chinese and Taisho in Japanese. The tiny islet is the easternmost of the eight islands making up the Senkaku chain, known as Diaoyu in Chinese. Taiwan also claims the chain, but has forged agreement...

CHP in pursuit of burglary suspects out of Orange County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

Authorities with the California Highway Patrol were in pursuit of a driver, and two passengers who were wanted for a home burglary out of Orange County. The suspects were leading officers in chase in the northbound lanes of the 57 Freeway north of Brea before transitioning to the westbound 60 Freeway. Later, the chase moved to the northbound 710 Freeway. Sky5 picked up the pursuit as the suspects were speeding through northbound lanes of the 101 Freeway, weaving in and out of traffic as CHP officers followed close behind. After exiting the freeway at Rampart, the suspects bailed the vehicle and ran into the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, near Bellevue Avenue and Coronado Street. Officers with CHP also exited their cruisers and were searching for the suspects in the neighborhood. Authorities were also circling the area from the air. Before long, one of the suspects was taken into custody. Two of the three burglary suspects seen bailing the pursuit car on the Rampart ramp off ...

12-year-old boy's hand ruptured by illegal firecracker in South L.A.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

A 12-year-old boy from South Los Angeles is facing a long recovery from a painful upcoming surgery after an illegal firework went off in his hand during a post-Fourth of July celebration.  Anthony Gibson was with his younger brother when someone handed him the illegal firecracker. He said he took it with him around the corner from his grandmother’s house.  “It was in my hand, and I tried to light it and it blew up,” the 12-year-old told KTLA.  The rocket ruptured Gibon’s left hand, burned his face and much of his body. The explosion also scattered debris particles in his eyes. The reality of the incident horrified his mother and grandmother.  “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I didn’t grasp it right away, I didn’t want to believe it,” Yadira Gonzalez, Gibon’s grandmother, said. “I immediately ran to see what was going on and when I got to him, it was like something traumatizing I will never forget.”  The trauma is something the family, including the 12-year...

Suspect rams car into Campbell smoke shop, steals $700 worth of product

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

CAMPBELL, Calif. (KRON) – A business in Campbell is shut down and out thousands of dollars after a suspected burglar drove through the store in the middle of the night. To make matters worse, the owners sat and watched it all happen on their surveillance video Wednesday morning -- despite police being right outside the store.The owners are now flabbergasted. The husband sat in the parking lot on the phone with 9-1-1 while someone ransacked his store and Campbell police didn’t stop it. TikTok trend in which thieves steal Kias and Hyundais getting worse, officials say You can watch surveillance video of the burglary using the video player above. A suspected burglar rammed his car through the glass at Vapors Smoke Shop and stole what he can. Campbell police surrounded the vehicle but the suspect drove off.“The fact that I’m watching everything go down live, and then seeing the police show up and let them drive away was what most frustrating,” said Jamie Giarratana, the store’s owner....

Troubled UN Plaza to get family-friendly makeover

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco’s downtown UN Plaza is about to undergo a major transformation. The historic site is named after the signing of the 1945 United Nations charter in the nearby veterans building, but it has turned into a hot spot for drug use and violence. The city now plans to turn the area into a skateboard area and recreation site.  Just last week, San Francisco police released a video showing an 83-year-old man pushed to the ground at UN Plaza. An ambulance rushed the man to the hospital.   TikTok trend in which thieves steal Kias and Hyundais getting worse, officials say While police are still searching for the suspect, the city has a new plan to transform the area.“We want this to be a safe space and fun for all,” said SF Parks and Recreation Communications Manager Daniel Montes.Montes says the mayor's office asked the department to take over and transform the area, similar to the metamorphosis in front of city hall. For years, camps and loitering...

Las polémicas municiones de racimo de EE.UU. ya están en Ucrania, dicen un general ucraniano y el Pentágono. ¿Qué sigue ahora?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:57 GMT

(CNN) — Las muy anticipadas y controvertidas municiones de racimo de fabricación estadounidense que Washington acordó suministrar a Kyiv ya están en Ucrania, según un general ucraniano y el Pentágono.“Acabamos de recibirlas, aún no las hemos utilizado, pero pueden cambiar radicalmente (el campo de batalla)”, dijo el general de brigada Oleksandr Tarnavsky a CNN en una entrevista en el centro de Ucrania el jueves por la mañana.El jueves por la tarde, el Pentágono confirmó la presencia de las municiones en el país, diciendo: “Hay municiones de racimo en Ucrania en este momento”.Tarnavsky es comandante de la Operación de Fuerzas Conjuntas “Tavria”, que está operando en una amplia sección del frente del sur de Ucrania.El militar ucraniano Igor Ovcharruck sostiene una bomba de racimo desactivada de un misil MSLR, entre una exhibición de piezas de cohetes utilizados por el ejército ruso, que un experto en municiones ucraniano dijo que no explotaron...