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Lawyers seek removal of judge in Texas school shooting case

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school in 2018 are seeking to have the judge handling the case removed, accusing him of bias for pushing to have experts deem the former student competent to stand trial.Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 22, has been at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon since early December 2019 after he was determined to be incompetent to stand trial.Pagourtzis, then a 17-year-old student, has been charged with capital murder for the attack at Santa Fe High School on May 18, 2018, when he was a student there. Eight students and two teachers were killed at the school, located about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Houston.In February, state District Judge Jeth Jones ordered Pagourtzis be held at the hospital for up to another year.But last week, Jones held a last-minute hearing in which he ordered Pagourtzis to be evaluated by an outside expert to determine his competency.In their motion Tuesday to recuse Jones,...

Storms end Southern California water restrictions for 7M

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s 11th atmospheric river left the storm-soaked state with a bang Wednesday, bringing flooded roadways, landslides and toppled trees to the southern part of the state as well as drought-busting rainfall that meant the end of water restrictions for nearly 7 million people.Even as residents struggled to clean up before the next round of winter arrives in the coming days — with some 27,000 people still under evacuation orders statewide Wednesday — the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s decision brought relief amid the state’s historic drought.The district supplies water for 19 million people in six counties. The board imposed the restrictions, which included limiting outdoor watering to one day a week, in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties last year during a severe shortage of state water supplies.But weather woes remained Wednesday, as an additional 61,000 people remained under evacuation warnings and em...

2 dead after canyons flood near Utah-Arizona line

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two men were found dead after floodwaters poured into a slot canyon near the Utah-Arizona border, endangering three groups of hikers who had to be hoisted out by helicopter.Kane County Sheriff’s Lt. Allen Alldredge said the first man who was found dead was among a group of three hiking south to Lees Ferry across the Utah-Arizona border. Another man in the group was rescued and taken to the hospital, where he was being treated for hypothermia and bodily injury after days of exposure. Authorities found a second body on Wednesday afternoon across the Arizona border. Although they couldn’t immediately confirm it was the man identified as missing earlier in the week, Alldredge said they “were very confident that it was our missing individual” and called off additional search.Alldredge said authorities received a call Monday from the spouse of a hiker who had not returned home from a hike they began Friday. The hikers were on a multiday trek from Wire Pas...

EXPLAINER: Next steps for Black reparations in San Francisco

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco supervisors have backed the idea of paying reparations to Black people, but whether members will agree to lump-sum payments of $5 million to every eligible person or to any of the more than 100 other recommendations made by an advisory committee won’t be known until later this year. The idea of Black reparations is not new, but the federal government’s promise of granting 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves was never realized. It wasn’t until George Floyd, a Black man, was killed in police custody in 2020 that reparations movements began spreading in earnest across the country.The state of California and the cities of Boston and San Francisco are among jurisdictions trying to atone not just for chattel slavery, but for decades of racist policies and laws that systemically denied Black Americans access to property, education and the ability to build generational wealth. WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT FOR REPARATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO? B...

Stanford University employee charged with lying about rapes

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 25-year-old Stanford University employee was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony perjury for allegedly lying about being raped twice last year on campus, authorities said. Jennifer Ann Gries, of Santa Clara, first reported a false sexual attack in August when she told a nurse at Valley Medical Center in San Jose that a man grabbed her while she was at a campus parking lot, dragged her to a restroom and sexually assaulted her, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office said. In October, she went to Stanford Hospital to get another rape examination and told the nurse conducting the exam that she was returning to her office from lunch when an unknown male grabbed her arm, forced her into a basement storage closet and raped her, prosecutors said. She again declined to speak with police, they said. Both of Gries’ sexual assault examination kits were analyzed quickly “given the extreme public safety risk of a potential sex offender,” prosecutors ...

Tennessee GOP advance new narrow abortion exemption bill

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican lawmakers on Wednesday took another swing at adding a narrow exemption to one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States. Nearly a month ago, a Republican legislative panel defied political threats made by the state’s influential anti-abortion lobbying group and advanced legislation clarifying situations where abortion could be allowed in Tennessee.However, despite the committee’s endorsement, the legislation was almost immediately considered doomed inside the GOP-dominant Statehouse, owing to the reluctance of the members to support efforts to loosen the strict abortion ban. After weeks of political negotiating, Tennessee Right to Life announced on Monday they would support a newly crafted proposal that’s even much more narrowly focused than the original version. The House Health Committee then advanced the proposal Wednesday.Currently, Tennessee has no explicit exemptions in its abortion ban. Instead the law i...

Minnesota meat processing firm accused of employing minors

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

A meat processing company in Minnesota employed children as young as 13 to work in hazardous conditions, such as operating meat grinders, while they worked overnight shifts and longer hours than allowed by law, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry said Wednesday.The state agency is asking a district court to issue a temporary restraining order against Tony Downs Food Company, based in Mankato, while it investigates the allegations.According to the complaint, the meat processing company employed at least eight children ranging from 14 to 17 at its plant in Madelia. Investigators also have identified other employees who were hired before they were 18 years old, the department said.The young employees, one of whom was 13 years old when hired, operated meat grinders, ovens and forklifts on overnight shifts and also worked in areas where meat products are flash frozen with carbon monoxide and ammonia, according to the complaint. They also allegedly worked longer hours than perm...

N. Carolina justices could revive voter ID previously tossed

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A photo voter identification mandate first sought over a decade ago by North Carolina Republicans could be revived after the state Supreme Court reheard on Wednesday a case that led a different combination of justices a few months ago to strike down a voter ID law. The justices agreed last month to take a second look at the court’s December ruling that upheld a trial court ruling that declared a 2018 voter ID law was unconstitutional, tainted by racial bias and designed to help Republicans retain their grip on power at the General Assembly. That ruling was penned by the 4-3 Democratic majority on the court. But Republicans have held a 5-2 seat advantage since January, the result of two associate justice election victories in November by GOP candidates. This latest edition of the court soon granted requests by Republican legislative leaders to rehear separate voter ID litigation and redistricting litigation decisions. Rehearing a case is an option for the c...

Review: New ‘Shazam!’ has more everything, but less charm

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

Sequels, by nature, are more. Whatever the original had, just add more, the rule seems to be. Even more words in the title — how often is a sequel’s title shorter than the original?And so, exactly four years after the original DC superhero pic “Shazam!” surprised with its clever blend of innocence and silliness, and enough wit to blunt the inevitable ridiculousness of plot, we have “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” It brings five times the title wordage, more action, more villains, more monsters and more star wattage — Oscar winner Helen Mirren, for example.But not more charm. The sequel, again directed by David F. Sandberg, feels less breezily funny, less fresh, less fleet of foot. (At two hours and 10 minutes, it’s actually two minutes shorter than the original, but doesn’t feel shorter).In its favor, though, are some elements that lent the original its pleasures, especially Zachary Levi and his goofy efforts (if perhaps more frenetic) to play a youngster in an adult superhero body, and...

Chicago's top cop checks out early

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:50:47 GMT

It was an unceremonious end for police superintendent David Brown.  WGN Investigates has learned Chicago’s top cop checked-out earlier than his announced exit, originally scheduled for Thursday. Sources say Brown cleaned-out his corner office and is leaving town without the usual pomp and circumstance usually afforded a police leader.  He declined all interview requests.  The early departure comes after Brown also missed the final police graduation and promotion ceremony of his tenure on March 7.Mayor Lori Lightfoot brought Brown to Chicago in 2020 from Dallas where he had previously served as police chief.  He began in the early weeks of the pandemic which proved to be a defining fixture of his time here.“When I’m talking to you in a couple of years for your exit interview, what does success look like?” WGN Investigates’ Ben Bradley asked Brown in May of 2020.  “Historical lows in violent crime and trust in the community not seen in Chicago,” Brown answered...