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California GOP mayor announces US House campaign, setting up another competitive congressional race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another competitive U.S. House fight is shaping up in California’s Central Valley farm belt, where Republican Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln announced Tuesday he will try to oust Democratic U.S. Rep. Josh Harder next year. Republican and Democratic leaders agree that the outcome in a string of contested California districts will be critical in determining the balance of power in the House, where only a handful of seats separate the two parties. The nation’s most populous state played a pivotal role in 2022 in securing the gavel for Republicans and installing Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield as speaker.Lincoln surprised California’s political establishment in 2020 when he ousted Democratic Mayor Michael Tubbs, who had become a darling of the party’s progressive wing for starting a privately funded program to give financially struggling residents $500 a month in guaranteed income. Tubbs, one of the youngest mayors in the country and the city&...

Judge denies Michigan school shooter’s request to take life without parole off the table

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A judge Tuesday denied a request by 17-year-old school shooter Ethan Crumbley to dismiss a prosecutors’ motion to seek a sentence of life without parole for killing four fellow students.Crumbley has pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including one count of terrorism and four counts of first-degree murder, for the November 2021 attack at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Four students were killed, and six more students and a teacher were injured. Crumbley was 15 at the time.A first-degree murder conviction typically brings an automatic no-parole sentence in Michigan. But teenagers are entitled to a hearing where their lawyer can raise immaturity, mental condition, family life and other issues while arguing for a shorter term.Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe denied Crumbley’s request to take the life-without-parole condition off the table as he awaits sentencing, news outlets reported.“The Court finds that defendant’s ...

Cicero holds public meeting on flooding issues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

CICERO, Ill. — On the heels of recent flooding and residents demanding solutions to the problems caused, the town of Cicero is holding a public hearing tonight where officials have said they will provide an update.Cicero was one of the hardest hit suburbs when it came to flooding from severe thunderstorms and rain showers earlier this month, leaving residents cleaning up their homes for days. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Cicero braces as more heavy rain rolls through City officials did not clarify further details that will be coming in the update, but WGN has learned that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago will be in attendance, and others invited include representatives from ComEd and the Cook County Assessor's Office.Cicero residents have questioned why nearby communities didn't have flooding problems to the same extent as they did, leading to calls for better sewer infrastructure and green spaces around the town.Town leaders said last week they were working to...

Democrats push for censure of Rep. George Santos; some Republicans support resolution

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) say it's time for the House to censure Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.)."The time has come for Congress to speak with a single voice," Torres said.They say his misleading comments about his past deserve an official reprimand from Congress."It is sad that George Santos continues to walk the halls of this hallowed institution, given that he is only here based on lies and deceit," Goldman said."The breath and depth of his deception is so staggering that it cries out for Congressional punishment," Torres said.Torres says they are taking action because the House Ethics committee investigation isn't moving fast enough. "60 days have passed and yet there continues to be no accountability when it comes to George Santos," Torres said.Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) thinks Republican leadership is stalling."It is clear that Kevin McCarthy wants George Santos to be here because he's doing everything he can to keep him ...

A July surge by Chicago Fire FC helps club finally build some momentum in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

CHICAGO - At the moment, it's easy to argue that the professional team with the most momentum in the Chicago area is playing at Soldier Field. That hasn't been the case that often over the last decade, but Chicago Fire FC has had one of its best stretches of success since they last made the postseason in 2017. Saturday provided another example of that in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. After failing on a few chances to put in the go-ahead goal against Toronto FC at Soldier field, Miguel Navarro sent a ball into the box in the 90th minute for Kacper Przyzbylko. The striker, who'd entered the game minutes earlier, headed it into the open part of the net for the winning goal in a 1-0 triumph.The victory over Toronto FC is the fifth for the Fire in their last six matches, sparking the most enthusiasm in the club in what was another difficult start to the season for the club. That has flipped thanks to the recent stretch before the MLS All-Star Break, which has put the club over .50...

White Sox ACE youth players tour Chicago's connections to Negro leagues, civil rights movement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

CHICAGO -- The White Sox's 17-and-under Amateur City Elite (ACE) program received a history lesson on the Negro league's connection to Chicago and the role it played in the civil rights movement.Players on the White Sox Amateur City Elite (ACE) program took a step back in time Tuesday before they stepped on the field at Guaranteed Rate to play ball to learn about the Negro Leagues players who helped pave the way.Beginning at 35th Street and Shields where the East-West Negro League All Star Classic, known as the East-West game was played at Comiskey Park for decades, allowed the younger generation to step back in time tour that was led by historian Shermann Dilla Thomas of Chicago Mahogany Tours."The East-West game would’ve been the place were African-Americans on the southside. Got a chance to see Josh Gibson and Satchel, Paige and all the greats.," Shermann Dilla Thomas said.For 90 minutes they visit places such as the home where Emmit Till grew up at 64th and S...

GOP to put IRS Hunter Biden whistleblowers at center stage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

House Republicans will put their claims of unequal justice for Republicans and Democrats at center stage Wednesday, bringing IRS whistleblowers before the public to blast the government’s investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden.The hearing will serve in part as a way for Republicans to give former President Trump political cover as he faces a likely third indictment over Jan. 6, while also fueling a potential impeachment inquiry against Attorney General Merrick Garland.IRS investigator Gary Shapley and an unnamed IRS special agent told the House Ways and Means Committee in May that they were displeased with the investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax matters, accusing prosecutors of slow-walking the investigation and allowing the statute of limitations to run out. Hunter Biden in June reached a deal to plead guilty to tax crimes for 2017 and 2018. In one point of drama, the identity of the unnamed IRS agent will be revealed at Wednesday’s hearing.Republicans h...

Arena Football is coming back to Austin in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Professional football is coming to Austin in 2024.The Arena Football League, which went bankrupt for a second time in 2019, is making a return under new ownership and Austin was named one of the 16 locales to have teams on Tuesday.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersF1 Sports and Entertainment bought the rights to AFL in 2022 and made the announcement on Feb. 1, 2023 that it would start playing games in April 2024. The embattled league with a unique spin on traditional football was founded in 1986 and had a roller coaster ride with bankruptcy and a canceled season in 2009, only to return in 2010 before running out of money again nine years later.Austin had an AFL franchise from 2004-2008 under the nickname the Wranglers, but it's unclear if that will be the name of the new team. On the AFL's website, team and mascot names are slated to be some of the last d...

Twin Cities Pro-Am continues to draw big names, bigger crowds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

Paige Bueckers was actually nervous on a basketball court – well, a sideline, anyway.A guest coach in the Twin Cities Pro-Am summer league Monday at Minnehaha Academy, the Connecticut guard and Hopkins grad pulled out her dry-erase board and went to work diagramming an action to get her close friend – Orlando Magic guard and Minnehaha Academy alum Jalen Suggs – an alley oop attempt.“First thing she said, she was getting nervous, she said, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work,’” Suggs said. “C’mon, P, we’ve got confidence in you.”For good reason. Most things Bueckers touches on the court turn to gold. And, sure enough, the play successfully led to a Suggs slam. As he ran down the floor, the guard pointed to Bueckers, who sported a big smile.“It was pretty cool,” Bueckers said.“We’re calling that one ‘UConn,’ ” Suggs said.Just another night at the Twin Cities Pro-Am.The exhibition – which consistently features many of the best men’s basketball players to come out of the metro – cont...

St. Paul: Several W. 7th Street businesses resist inclusion in downtown improvement district, say safety is priority

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:50 GMT

At the Apostle Supper Club in downtown St. Paul, restaurateur Brian Ingram flinches before urging loiterers to mosey down the street.“You ask them to move, they throw a brick through the window,” said Ingram on Tuesday. “Our windows get broken every single week.”His two restaurants off the West Seventh Street business corridor — Apostle and Hope Breakfast Bar — have been broken into “probably a dozen times this year alone,” said Ingram, recounting how his establishments’ patio furniture tends to disappear and end up in a small homeless encampment across the street.Not long ago, workers found a patron dead in the Apostle bathroom of an apparent drug overdose. In the past month or so, they’ve spotted three more apparent overdoses on the nearby sidewalk.So when a business coalition invited Ingram to sign a petition in favor of expanding an existing Downtown Improvement District down West Seventh Street, Ingram declined. The pr...