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Casino workers seethe as smoking ban bill is delayed yet again in New Jersey Legislature

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A bill to end smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos that appeared headed for its first vote Thursday was delayed yet again when Democratic lawmakers said they did not have enough votes to advance it.They also said they would listen to alternatives proposed by the casino industry including enclosed smoking rooms in which no employee would be forced to work.That infuriated over 100 casino workers who packed a hearing room in the state Capitol, convinced that after nearly three years, their state representatives were ready to start the smoking ban on its way to approval.“It’s incredible that we’re here begging again to have the same thing everyone else has,” said Lamont White, a dealer at the Borgata and a leader of the drive to end smoking in Atlantic City’s nine casinos.“We have to endure hours on the job with secondhand smoke in our faces without the ability to turn away,” added Nicole Vitola, another Borgata dealer active in the anti-smokin...

House passes resolution to block Iran’s access to $6 billion from prisoner swap

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a bipartisan measure Thursday that would block Iran from ever accessing the $6 billion recently transferred by the U.S. in a prisoner swap, a step Republicans pushed in response to the nation’s alleged role in the deadly attacks last month by Hamas on Israel.The measure — titled the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act — passed 307-119 as Republicans sought to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they call their complicity in funding Iranian-backed terrorism in the Middle East. “With such instability in the region, the last thing we need to do is to give access to $6 billion to be diverted to more Iranian-sponsored terrorism,” Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a debate. U.S. officials have rebuffed this criticism, noting that not a single dollar has yet to be made available to Iran and insisting that when it is, it can only be used for humanitarian needs.Republican critic...

US prosecutors say plots to assassinate Sikh leaders were part of a campaign of planned killings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A foiled plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York, just days after another activist’s killing, was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada, according to U.S. prosecutors.In electronic communications and audio and video calls secretly recorded or obtained by U.S. law enforcement, organizers of the plot talked last spring about plans to kill someone in California and at least three other people in Canada, in addition to the victim in New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.The goal was to kill at least four people in the two countries by June 29, and then more after that, prosecutors contend.After Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who had been exiled from India, was shot and killed outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, one of the men charged with orchestrating the planned assassinations told a person he had hired as a hitman that he ...

Mom convicted of killing kids in Idaho taken to Arizona in murder conspiracy case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman is now in an Arizona jail on charges related to another slaying, authorities said Thursday.Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said deputies arrived in Phoenix with Lori Vallow Daybell late Wednesday night.The sheriff’s office shared video of Vallow Daybell being brought into the jail in a blue jumpsuit. She is then seen in an orange jailhouse uniform before having her mugshot taken.She is wanted in Arizona to face charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband as well as her niece’s ex-husband.In 2019, Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow...

Spectrum auction wraps, bringing more than $2.1 billion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government has announced the results of its latest spectrum auction offering telecommunications companies the chance to purchase chunks of mid-band wireless spectrum touted for being able to carry a lot of data over long distances.Telus Communications Inc. was awarded the most licences in the provisional results, having secured 1,430 licences for nearly $620 million.Bell Canada was awarded 939 licences for $518 million, followed by Rogers Communications Inc., which says it invested $475 million for 40.5 MHz of 3800 MHz spectrum, spanning 860 licences. Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, was has been seeking to solidify itself as a fourth national carrier, spent almost $300 million to secure 305 licences.A total of 22 companies had qualified to participate in the auction, which was the first held since 2021.The federal government said the 3800 MHz auction marked a key milestone in its plan to make spectrum available for 5G services and rural connectivity. It says it...

Family of Marine killed in Afghanistan fails to win lawsuit against Alec Baldwin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Alec Baldwin didn’t have to pay anything to resolve a $25 million lawsuit filed by family members of a Marine killed in Afghanistan after the actor chastised them on social media over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Baldwin’s attorney said.U.S. Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo Ramos in August dismissed the lawsuit sought by the wife and sisters of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, of Jackson, Wyoming, When the McCollum family didn’t file an amended lawsuit as Ramos invited to do before a September deadline, the judge closed the case in October.Baldwin paid nothing to resolve the case, his attorney Luke Nikas said Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press.The case has seen no activity since, according to court documents. Lawyers for both sides, including McCollum family attorney Dennis Postiglione, did not comment further on the case when contacted by email Thursday. Reached by email Wednesday, Postiglione declined to comm...

Sen. Rand Paul performed Heimlich maneuver on choking Sen. Joni Ernst during GOP lunch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, was choking on food during a luncheon Thursday when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky performed the Heimlich maneuver on her.The incident occurred during a closed-door Republican lunch in the Capitol. Shortly after, Ernst posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to thank Paul. Ernst joked that she was choking on “woke policies.”She was seen walking in the Capitol after the incident, and senators said they were grateful Paul was ready to help her. The Kentucky senator formerly worked as an eye doctor.“It’s a good thing he did,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “God bless Rand Paul.”The Associated Press

Liberal justice minister accepts Senate changes to government bail-reform bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani is urging the House of Commons to accept Senate amendments to the Liberal government’s bail-reform legislation and pass it into law.Virani says the government accepts the changes, which include a new requirement that judges detail how their bail decisions take into account the circumstances of accused people who are Indigenous or members of other marginalized groups.The minister says the Criminal Code already states that courts have to consider such factors, but the Senate heard from witnesses who said the law is not consistently applied. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association proposed the measure during the Senate’s study of the legislation, saying that courts often don’t do this analysis, or fail to explain how it is done.It was one of several civil-society groups that said proposed reforms making it more difficult for some offenders to access bail could worsen the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous offender...

Georgia Republicans advance House and Senate maps as congressional proposal waits in the wings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans on Thursday pushed forward new legislative maps that would preserve their majorities in the state House and Senate, while still not revealing how they want to redraw Georgia’s 14 congressional districts.A state Senate committee voted 7-5 along party lines to advance a new Senate map, while a House committee voted 9-5 to advance a new House map. Both bills advance to their full chambers, which could debate them Friday. Democrats and some outside groups targeted the Senate map as particularly flawed, saying it fails to create significant opportunities for Black voters in the 10 districts that a federal judge identified as violating the law. But Democrats also question the House map, in part because it would alter or eliminate two districts in which no ethnic group is a majority.Lawmakers are meeting in special session after U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled in October that Georgia’s legislative and congressional maps violated federal law by...

Texas judge rips into Biden administration’s handling of border in dispute over razor wire barrier

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:44 GMT

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Border Patrol agents for now can cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border under a judge’s ruling that also took President Joe Biden’s administration to task for its handling of immigration enforcement. The ruling is at least a temporary defeat for Texas officials who say Border Patrol agents have repeatedly cut, damaged and moved some of the roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of concertina wire the state installed near the border city of Eagle Pass, where large numbers of migrant have crossed in recent months. U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, initially issued an emergency order in October that prevented agents from cutting razor wire in Eagle Pass, except in emergencies. On Wednesday, however, she ruled that the state hadn’t met the requirements to issue a wider preliminary injunction.At the same time, she said razor wire has proved to be effective at deterring migrants elsewhe...