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Biden, congressional leaders meet to avert default

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and congressional leaders confronted each other Tuesday in their first face-to-face meeting aimed at averting an unprecedented U.S. government default.The president welcomed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Oval Office. Their initial challenge was simply to agree on what exactly they were talking about as they met for just over one hour.With the government at risk of being unable to meet its obligations as soon as June 1, raising the specter of economic chaos, Republicans came to the White House hoping to negotiate sweeping cuts to federal spending in exchange for allowing new borrowing to avoid default.Biden, on the other hand, was set to reinforce his opposition to allowing the country’s full faith and credit to be held “hostage” to negotiations — and to affirm his willingness to hold talks on the budget only after default is n...

CP NewsAlert: Amber Alert issued for Montreal infant in suspected abduction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

MONTREAL — Police in Montreal have issued an Amber Alert for a five-month-old child who they say was abducted.The missing child is identified as Chombo-Baraka Babayabo-Barry.Police say the suspect is Armand Babayabo.They are asking people to call 911 if they see a 2011 white Ford Focus with the licence plate Z78ZEB.More coming.The Canadian Press

Report: Antisemitic incidents on the rise in California

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More than 500 antisemitic acts targeting Jewish people, including assault, vandalism and harassment, were committed in California last year, an increase of more than 40% from 2021, underscoring a proliferation of hate crimes and extremism in the state, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.The ADL also cited increasing collaboration among extremist and white supremacist groups in a report detailing a wide range of hate crimes and violence. California saw at least six murders by members of extremist groups in 2021 and 2022 — the most in the nation — with three being linked to white supremacist groups, the report found.The report on California comes after the Anti-Defamation League released another report, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, that shows antisemitic incidents are at a new high worldwide, with the upward trend intensifying in the U.S.In California, it fou...

Jill Biden: Writing about her grief after son’s death helped

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden says writing about the “crushing” grief she felt after her son Beau died of cancer helped give her the emotional strength to carry on as she encouraged young people who have lost loved ones during military service to spill their feelings out onto paper. “It takes courage to write,” she said Tuesday, “but it’s worth it, because it helps us glue ourselves back together. It connects to those who carry their own grief, reminds us that we aren’t alone. And you are not alone.”The first lady opened up about her experience with the children and siblings of service members who lost their lives during military service after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The group is participating in a weeklong writing seminar at a ranch in Justin, Texas, sponsored by The War Horse, a nonprofit newsroom that publishes stories about the human fallout of military service. Biden, a community college writing professor, said that, after President Joe Biden finished ...

Minnesota prepares for near-total ban on ‘forever chemicals’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota is on the verge of banning non-essential uses of “forever chemicals.” And lawmakers say they are naming the legislation after a woman who spent the last months of her life campaigning for restrictions that will be some of the toughest in the country. Legislators, environmentalists and family members paid tribute Tuesday to Amara Strande. She died two days shy of her 21st birthday last month from a rare form of liver cancer. She grew up in a St. Paul suburb where the groundwater is contaminated by PFAS and believed the chemicals were part of what caused her cancer, which was diagnosed when she was 15.“Through her pain and exhaustion, Amara was willing to be a voice of those who have become the victims of illnesses that are linked to these forever chemicals,” said her father, Michael Strande. ”Amara called on the lawmakers of Minnesota to do what is right in passing laws that will not only protect our environment, and human lives, but also force ...

Trudeau Foundation board chair decries ‘unfair attacks’ after interference allegation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

OTTAWA — The chair of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s board says the organization has been subjected to “unwarranted and unfair attacks” over allegations it received a donation that was part of a China-led foreign influence campaign. Edward Johnson was before a parliamentary committee investigating the circumstances around a pair of 2016 and 2017 donations from two Chinese billionaires that totalled $140,000.The Globe and Mail reported in February, citing an unnamed source, that the donors were told to offer the money in the hopes of influencing the new Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau.But Johnson told the members of Parliament there was never an opportunity for the foundation to be part of any foreign interference attempts by China.He said when the newspaper raised concerns over the donations, the Trudeau Foundation tried to repay the money and he sought to have the matter reviewed independently.The foundation’s former CEO and eight other board members...

Feinstein returning to Senate after facing resignation calls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office disclosed Tuesday that she is returning to Washington following an absence of more than two months in which the oldest member of Congress faced calls from within her own party to resign.The 89-year-old California Democrat announced in early March that she had been hospitalized in San Francisco and was being treated for a case of shingles. But an expected return later that month never happened. Few details emerged on Feinstein’s condition, and some Democrats openly complained that her lengthy absence was compromising the Democratic agenda in the Senate, including slowing the push to confirm President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees. Some in the House urged her to step down. Earlier this month, Feinstein said in a statement that “there has been no slowdown.”Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed Feinstein’s return in a statement and said he was pleased “my friend Dianne is back in the Senate and ready to ro...

US troops arrive at border as migration curbs set to end

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 550 U.S. active duty troops have begun arriving along the U.S.-Mexico border in the first group of military support ahead of an expected increase of migrants, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday.The movement of troops is part of efforts to beef up security along the southern border as the U.S. prepares for the end of immigration restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Those restrictions are set to expire Thursday, leading to concerns about whether that will result in an increase in migrants trying to enter the U.S. starting Friday. The forces will mainly be used to help monitor and watch the border, or do data entry and support, and are “not there in any way to be interacting with migrants,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary. The goal is to free up U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to do law enforcement activities.“They needed assistance performing some of those back shop type requirements so that they can focus on ...

Father shot while shielding 4-year-old son from crossfire in South Shore

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

CHICAGO — A man is speaking out from his hospital bed two days after he was shot in the South Shore neighborhood while trying to protect his young son amid crossfire. At the intersection of 70th and Clyde, Donald Muhammad says he was trying to take his son out of the car Sunday night when gunfire erupted. "This is an epidemic and it doesn’t just affect me, it affects children every day. It affects adults. It affects innocent people," Muhammad told WGN News. Video shows bat-wielding woman attack women with stroller in Albany Park It's why Muhammad says he chose to speak out after surviving the shooting. "Physically, I’m well but emotionally and mentally, you’ll never get over that, especially when it involves children," he said. Muhammad was with his four-year-old son, who he was dropping off at his mom’s house. The father said he barely parked and exited the car before the gunshots erupted."It wasn’t semi-automatic gunfire, it was literally just automatic," Muhammad said. The sec...

Updated recommendations for breast cancer screenings can help with earlier detection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

CHICAGO — A radical change in advice about screening women for breast cancer was announced Tuesday.Get screened earlier. It will save lives. For Black women it's even more important.After years telling women to wait until 50 for their first mammogram, the nation's top doctors are urging women to back that up by a decade.But some who devote their lives to finding breast cancer say even those recommendations don't go far enough. Breast cancer screenings should begin at 40, not 50, new guidelines say Dr. Sarah Friedewald is chief of breast imaging at Northwestern Medicine.“One in six breast cancers occur in women in their 40s,” she said. “If we are screening these patients, we will find a cancer, smaller and more easily treatable.”Friedewald said that's the goal: find cancer early when it is most treatable.“Information is power,” she said. “Come, get your mammogram, find out if there’s anything wrong. And if there is, it’s something we can address and potentially save lives.”But for ...