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Abortion pill hearing made public after transparency concern

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge is set to hear arguments this week in a lawsuit that poses a threat to the nationwide availability of medication abortion. The upcoming hearing became public Monday after reporting raised concerns that the case with major implications could unfold with little public oversight. The intensely watched lawsuit challenges the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug mifepristone in 2000 and was filed by a group that helped challenge Roe v. Wade. It’s been assigned to a Texas judge who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and is known for conservative views.The ruling could affect states regardless of whether abortion is legal and comes as medication accounts for over half of abortions. The impacts of a ruling against the Food and Drug Administration could take years to play out.The hearing set for Wednesday was first revealed by the Washington Post, which reported that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk would delay putting it on the publi...

Texas Republicans propose state immigration police force

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers are proposing legislation that makes it a state felony to cross the border from Mexico illegally and create a new border police force that could deputize private citizens, the latest in the state’s continued push to test the limits of the federal government’s authority over immigration. Civil rights organizations, immigration advocates and Democrats immediately decried the efforts that began drawing attention after Friday’s deadline for filing bills in Texas’ ongoing biennial legislative session. “Trying to solve what is fundamentally a humanitarian crisis with a full frontal military response shows a reckless disregard for the safety of the people in our state and a fundamental misunderstanding of the root causes of the issues at our border,” Roberto Lopez, senior advocacy manager for the Beyond Borders program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement.Since President Joe Biden took office, illegal crossings ...

Federal indictment says suburban man stole over $83 million in COVID-19 testing scheme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO — A man from the Northwest suburbs has been indicted by a federal grand jury after allegedly submitting fraudulent claims to be reimbursed for COVID-19 tests, some of which never happened.Eleven counts are included in the indictment, including ten counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds.According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, Zishan Alvi, a 44-year-old man from Inverness, co-owned and operated a lab based in Chicago that allegedly performed PCR and antigen tests to detect the COVID-19 variant SARS-CoV-2, while also offering a service where individuals and companies could pay a fee to receive COVID-19 PCR test results in an expedited fashion. However — from around Feb. 2021 through Feb. 2022 — the indictment alleges Alvi along with others, knowingly and intentionally devised a scheme to defraud the government by causing the lab to submit fraudulent claims and deliver inaccurate and unreliable test results to the public.Governmen...

Jury selection to begin in ComEd bribery trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the ComEd bribery trial.The four defendants, charged in November 2020, are former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore; former ComEd Vice President and lobbyist John Hooker; Jay Doherty, a former ComEd contractor and President of the City Club of Chicago; and Michael McClain, a former ComEd lobbyist and consultant who, for decades, has been a close confidant of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.Federal prosecutors allege the four defendants “conspired with outside consultants to corruptly influence and reward” Madigan, who, as House Speaker, exerted heavy influence on legislation at the state capitol. Four plead not guilty in ComEd bribery scheme It is alleged that, in exchange for legislation favorable to the utility, the four defendants arranged for jobs and contracts for Madigan’s allies, “even in instances where those people performed little or no work that ComEd purportedly hired them to perform.”The trial is expecte...

Former Cubs first baseman Joe Pepitone dies at 82

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO - A former member of the Cubs who had a big responsibility during his second year with the club has passed away.Joe Pepitone, who played in Chicago for parts of three seasons in the early 1970s, died at the age of 82 on Monday. His death was announced by the New York Yankees, the team where the first baseman and center fielder played the majority of his MLB career.Pepitone joined the Cubs in a trade with the Astros midway through the 1970 season and was on the club through the early part of 1973. He played in 268 games in Chicago during that time, hitting .284 with 36 doubles, 39 homers, and 144 RBI in 1,049 plate appearances.Most Cubs fans best remember Pepitone for being the first replacement for club legend Ernie Banks at first base during "Mr. Cub's" last year in 1971. Pepitone played in 95 games at first with Banks playing that position in 20 of the 39 contests he appeared in that season. Pepitone also played in 23 games in the outfield in 1971.After Banks' retirement t...

Public safety top of mind for Chicago mayor finalists as runoff race tightens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

CHICAGO — In the runoff election for Chicago mayor, public safety is front and center.Finalist Paul Vallas stated that "when I become mayor, public safety will be guaranteed in every community." Brandon Johnson echoed those sentiments, saying, "for too long, we’ve allowed for an oversimplistic approach to public safety."Monday morning, standing with 36 people elected to Chicago’s new Police District Council, Johnson elaborated on his plan to reduce crime. The mayoral candidate wants to train and promote 200 detectives from within CPD’s existing ranks. He has also stressed the need to bring CPD into greater compliance with court-mandated reforms. Under his tenure, Johnson would also push for EMTs and social workers to respond to more police calls. Vallas, Johnson campaign for allies ahead of mayoral runoff debates Johnson would also want more youth employment."In order to have a safer Chicago, we’re going to double the amount of people we hire in the city of Chicago becau...

Zebra bites Ohio man's arm before being put down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the extent of the victim's injuries.CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) - A man was taken to the hospital Sunday afternoon after a zebra attacked him in Pickaway County, Ohio. According to an incident report from the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office, deputies were sent around 5:30 p.m. to a fenced-in field after reports that a man was seriously injured by a zebra he owned. Pickaway County deputies and a victim's family member fend off a zebra after it bit a man's arm. (Courtesy Photo/Pickaway County Sheriff's Office)As deputies arrived, they saw the victim lying on the ground with his right arm covered with his sleeve. According to the incident report, dispatch logs said the victim had his arm bitten off by the zebra.However, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office confirmed to Nexstar's WCMH that the man was being treated at Grant Medical Center, and will not lose his arm.An edited version of deputies' body camera footage is below. ...

How to Save for a Dream Trip in 2023 Revealed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

Very little water flowing into Lake Travis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

LAKE TRAVIS (KXAN) — The relentless drought that has plagued Central Texas for the last three years is taking a toll on the waterways that flow into Lake Travis. The inflows reached historic levels in 2022 for the lowest inflow ever into the lake. Jordan Furnans, Ph.D., is the vice president of Texas Operations for LRE Water. He says the start of tracking these inflows began in 1942. In 2022, only 110,000 acre-feet of water flowed into Lake Travis from the watersheds upstream. That easily "beats" the former record of 128,000 in 2011.An acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons of water. This is enough water to cover an acre of land, (about the size of a football field) one foot deep.Some of the creeks and rivers that flow into Lake Travis include Sandy Creek near Kingsland, the Colorado River near San Saba, the Llano River near Llano, and the Pedernales River at both Fredericksburg and Johnson City.Upstream Flow Conditions and Gauged InflowsLocationDate/Timeof Last ReportCurrent Flow(c...

'Reject vouchers:' Texas public school employees rally at State Capitol

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Hundreds of educators traveled to the Texas State Capitol Monday to rally for more public school funding, teacher pay raises, and against proposals that would create a state fund for parents to send their children to private or charter schools. Lawmaker proposes $15K pay raise for Texas teachers The Texas AFT, which represents 66,000 current and retired Texas school employees, hosted a Public Education Advocacy Day, where educators met with lawmakers to discuss current proposals that would impact them. Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT, said calls for teacher pay raises come at a critical time, and lawmakers need to pass bills to help "stem the exodus of Texas school staff." "Texas hasn't even made it to the national average, we're $7,500 below the national average, yet we're in a state that has the ninth largest economy in the world," he said. "We're not doing anything about retention... focusing on vouchers, focusing on sending more money to private schools t...