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Florida’s new DeSantis-backed laws address immigration, guns and more

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally will face tough punishments and gun owners will have more freedoms when more than 200 new Florida laws take effect Saturday, many of which Gov. Ron DeSantis will highlight as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.DeSantis has taken a hard line on illegal immigration as he campaigns, saying he’ll finish the Mexican border wall his one-time supporter, Donald Trump, promised to build. He’s also carried out political gimmicks like flying immigrants from Texas to blue states, supposedly before they can get to Florida.The new employer penalties are a chance for DeSantis to show he doesn’t just talk tough on illegal immigration, but he’s put in place what some critics say the harshest state law in the country. DeSantis has largely echoed the border policy of Trump, whose endorsement propelled DeSantis to the governor’s office in 2018. DeSantis is now the former president&...

Opponents of Serbia’s populist leader block main highway to keep up pressure after weeks of protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Opponents of Serbia’s populist government blocked the country’s main highway on Friday as part of weeks-long protests that first started after mass shootings in early May, including the first ever school carnage in the Balkan country.The protesters are demanding the resignations of top Serbian security officials and the revoking of broadcasting licenses for pro-government media and tabloids that regularly air violent content and host crime figures and war criminals.Opposition politicians and their supporters drove up slowly to Belgrade in some few dozen cars along the north-south motorway before stopping and parking in the country’s capital, thus halting traffic in both directions. No incidents were reported.The highway blockade was the latest in a series of street demonstrations that started after two mass shootings on May 3 and May 4 that left 18 people dead and 20 others wounded, many of them pupils from a Belgrade elementary school.A sim...

Senators say they’re just learning of a probe into mishandled sexual assaults at Coast Guard Academy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A previously undisclosed investigation reveals the U.S. Coast Guard failed to appropriately review, prosecute and report cases of sexual assault at the service’s Connecticut academy for years while some of the accused rose up the ranks, according to two U.S. Senators who on Friday demanded documents and records concerning the probe.The Coast Guard informally briefed Senate staff this month on “Operation Fouled Anchor,” an internal investigation that ran from 2014 to 2020. It had identified 62 substantiated incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment from 1988 and 2006 which occurred at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, or by academy cadets.Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said the investigation was not previously disclosed to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has oversight of the Coast Guard. “This information is disturbing,” they wrote in a letter dat...

Federal board approves $12.7 billion budget for Puerto Rico as island shakes off bankruptcy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances on Friday approved a $12.7 billion general fund budget that contains increases for teachers, judicial employees and the U.S. territory’s public university.It is the largest budget approved in the island’s history.The bulk of the funds, $2.6 billion, will go toward education, followed by $1.2 billion for public safety, $600 million for the University of Puerto Rico and $555 million for the island’s health department.The approval comes after last-minute debates threatened to derail the proposed budget, which is slightly bigger than last year’s $12.4 billion budget.The new budget was previously approved by Puerto Rico’s legislature and governor on Thursday and goes into effect on July 1.It is the third balanced budget for Puerto Rico, which officials say helps the island return to the capital markets after emerging last year from the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history.If a fourth balance...

Man faces impaired driving charges following ‘fiery crash’ last month in Vaughan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

A 30-year-old man is facing impaired driving charges following a violent head-on crash that was captured on video by another motorist.York Regional Police say the crash happened in the early morning hours of May 28 in Vaughan.Dashcam video shows a white SUV approaching a curve in the road at what police say was a “high rate of speed” before crossing over the dividing line and into an oncoming vehicle. The force of the crash caused one of the vehicles to catch fire. Firefighters can be seen putting out the blaze.This fiery crash could have been deadly.A 30-year-old man faces charges for driving impaired and failing to stop at the scene of this crash May 28.Let's keep the explosions in the sky this #CanadaDay weekend – not on our roads. Don't drink and drive.#SafeRoadsYourCall pic.twitter.com/9si9gwULd1— York Regional Police (@YRP) June 30, 2023The driver of the car that was hit suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, according to police.Pol...

French Montana chronicles mom’s sacrifice after emigrating from Morocco in doc film ‘For Khadija’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If French Montana’s father never abandoned him as a teenager, the rapper believes he would not have grown into a popular figure who has earned three Grammy nominations.Montana and his family left Morocco more than two decades ago in hopes of a better life in the U.S., but when times got tough, his father returned to their native country. Montana turned to New York City’s street life in the South Bronx for manly guidance while his mother served as the faithful backbone. It was his mother’s sacrifice to raise her sons as a single parent that inspired him to become a better man. The “Pop That” rapper is telling that story in the documentary film “For Khadija,” a project named after his mother that recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The project touches on his rise as a successful recording artist and the plight of his single immigrant mother raising three sons. “This is a story about the grind, the losses and the sacrifices,” said Montana abo...

A Tajik man fatally shot two officers at Moldova’s airport after he was denied entry, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A Tajikistan national who was denied entry into Moldova at its main international airport grabbed a guard’s weapon and fatally shot two security officers Friday, officials said. One traveler also was wounded.The suspect was being escorted by officials at Chisinau International Airport when he “took the gun of a border guard” and opened fire, authorities said. The individual was then apprehended and handcuffed by special forces who intervened. All passengers were evacuated from the airport.Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean said in a statement that the suspect was from Tajikistan. He said a wounded passenger was being treated by doctors.Moldova’s President Maia Sandu said that the two people killed were a border police officer and an airport security employee.“We send our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and relatives, the loss of loved ones is a great pain for the families,” Sandu wrote in a statement on Facebook. “It’s a sad...

Biden says 'this fight is not over' after Supreme Court kills student debt relief plan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday that "this fight is not over” after the Supreme Court killed his plan to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt. He also blasted Republicans over the issue.Biden said he would have more to say when he speaks to the nation on Friday afternoon. He had proposed a $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of borrowers. The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan, and it leaves borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume in the fall.Biden was to announce a new set of actions to protect student loan borrowers later Friday, said a White House official. The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of Biden’s expected statement on the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.The court held that the administration needed Congress' endorsement before undertaking so cost...

Minimum wage workers to receive wage bump coming July 1

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

CHICAGO -- Most minimum wage workers will receive a 40-cent bump per hour. The Cook County Board President was joined by the office of Labor Standards, the Department of Human Rights and Ethics and Arise Chicago to remind workers of the increased wages that goes into effect July 1st.Under the city's minimum wage ordinance, the minimum wage for large employers such as companies with 21 or more employees must now be paid 15 dollars and 80 cents. People who works for employers who have four to 20 employees must be paid $15 an hour and increase of 50 cents per hour. For workers who receive tips, it also rises to eight dollars per hour. If tipped workers don't receive enough tips, their employers must make up the difference to equal the city's minimum wage. Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan The Cook County Board President says the city's labor laws reflect a commitment to creating economic prosperity for all workers. "Enforcement of the minimum wage is j...

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says Bud Light didn't support her during backlash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:36 GMT

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” over her partnership with the beer giant.In a video posted Thursday to Instagram and TikTok, she said she "was waiting for the brand to reach out to me. But they never did.” She said she should have spoken out sooner but was afraid and hoped things would get better — but they didn't.“For months now, I’ve been scared to leave my house,” Mulvaney said. “I have been ridiculed in public. I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.” Bud Light is no longer America’s top beer following anti-LGBTQ+ pushback Anheuser-Busch didn't directly respond to Mulvaney in a statement the company released Friday. But it said it remains "committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community."A deluge of critici...