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Long-serving Montenegro president to face newcomer in runoff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — The long-serving incumbent will face a political newcomer in a runoff presidential election in Montenegro next month after none of the contenders garnered enough support in the first round of voting on Sunday to achieve an outright victory, according to early projections. President Milo Đukanović, 61, won around 35% of the votes while 37-year-old economist Jakov Milatović won around 29%, according to projections released by the Center for Monitoring and Research.If confirmed in the official tally, the two will face each other in the April 2 runoff. The CeMI monitoring group insisted that they don’t expect major changes as the counting continues. Official preliminary results are expected later in the evening. The presidential election was held amid a political turmoil and uncertainty over whether the small NATO member state in the Balkans would unblock its bid to join the European Union or instead seek to improve ties with Serbia and Russia.Though t...

Gloria Dea, 1st magician on Las Vegas Strip, dies at age 100

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Gloria Dea, touted as the first magician to perform on what would become the Las Vegas Strip in the early 1940s, has died. She was 100.Dea died Saturday at her Las Vegas residence, said LaNae Jenkins, the director of clinical services for Valley Hospice, who was one of Dea’s caretakers. A memorial is being planned.Dea also appeared in several movies in the 1940s and ’50s, including “King of the Congo,” starring Buster Crabbe, in 1952.Dea moved from California to Las Vegas in 1980. Famed magician David Copperfield befriended her in her later years, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.“Gloria was amazing. She was charming funny and engaging,” Copperfield told the newspaper. “And in Vegas, as a young magician, she started it all. It was an honor to know her.”Dea was 19 when she performed at El Rancho Vegas on May 14, 1941. Her show at the Roundup Room is the first recorded appearance by a magician in Las Vegas, the Review-Journal reported Sunday.“There was no Str...

DA leading Trump case says rhetoric won’t intimidate office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is standing firm against Donald Trump’s increasingly hostile rhetoric, telling his staff that the office won’t be intimidated or deterred as it nears a decision on charging the former president.Bragg sent an internal memo late Saturday hours after Trump unleashed a three-part, all-caps social media post in which he said he could be arrested in the coming days, criticized the district attorney and encouraged his supporters to protest and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”Bragg, whose office has been calling witnesses to a grand jury investigating hush money paid on Trump’s behalf during his 2016 campaign, did not mention the Republican by name, but made it clear that’s who he was writing about. The memo came as law enforcement officials in New York City are making security preparations for the possibility Trump is charged and appears in court in Manhattan. “We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in...

Allegheny D.A. seeks death penalty in officer’s killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty if they win a first-degree murder conviction against a man charged in last month’s shooting death of one police officer and the wounding of another in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.Johnathan Jermia Morris, 31, of McKeesport is charged in Allegheny County with criminal homicide, attempted homicide and assaulting a law enforcement officer, as well as firearms crimes in the Feb. 6 shootings about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Pittsburgh.In a notice filed with the court Friday, prosecutors said capital punishment would be warranted for several reasons, including that the victim was a police officer, the crime was committed during another felony and it created a grave risk of death to another person. Pennsylvania hasn’t executed anyone since 1999.Authorities have said officers were called to a home over a dispute involving a man having a mental health crisis. When they caught up with Morris, he “ suddenly produced...

After deadly shootings, Miami Beach sets spring break curfew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Miami Beach officials imposed a curfew beginning Sunday night during spring break after two fatal shootings and rowdy, chaotic crowds that police have had difficulty controlling.The city said in a news release the curfew would be from 11:59 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday, with an additional curfew likely to be put in place Thursday through next Monday, March 27. The curfew mainly affects South Beach, the most popular party location for spring breakers.The release said the two separate shootings Friday night and early Sunday that left two people dead and “excessively large and unruly crowds” led to the decision. The city commission plans a meeting Monday to discuss potential further restrictions next week.Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a video message posted Sunday that the crowds and presence of numerous firearms has “created a peril that cannot go unchecked” despite massive police presence and many city-sponsored activities meant to keep pe...

Matt Boldy nets hat trick for Wild in bounceback win over Capitals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

The sweat hadn’t even dried off of Matt Boldy’s brow in the immediate aftermath of a loss to the Boston Bruins and he was already looking forward to the matchup with the Washington Capitals less than 24 hours later.“It’s nice to play really quick after a loss,” Boldy said on Saturday afternoon. “It’ll be nice to come back and play tomorrow.”The motivation was palpable on Sunday afternoon as Boldy netted a hat trick to pace the Wild to a 5-3 win over the Capitals.The performance from Boldy was the latest in an impressive run that’s perfectly coincided with the Wild trading for Marcus Johansson. Since general manager Bill Guerin acquired Johansson on Feb. 28 in a move that flew under the radar, Boldy has been a completely different player.He has 6 goals and 5 assists in that span and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Asked earlier this week about building chemistry with Johansson so quickly, Boldy noted how much they comple...

DA leading Trump case says rhetoric won't intimidate office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is standing firm against Donald Trump’s increasingly hostile rhetoric, telling his staff that the office won’t be intimidated or deterred as it nears a decision on charging the former president. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Bragg sent an internal memo late Saturday hours after Trump unleashed a three-part, all-caps social media post in which he said he could be arrested in the coming days, criticized the district attorney and encouraged his supporters to protest and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”Bragg, whose office has been calling witnesses to a grand jury investigating hush money paid on Trump’s behalf during his 2016 campaign, did not mention the Republican by name, but made it clear that’s who he was writing about. The memo came as law enforcement officials in New York City are making security preparations for the possibility Trump is charged and appears in court in Ma...

Temp nurses cost hospitals big during the pandemic. Missouri lawmakers are mulling limits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

To crack down on price gouging, proposed legislation in Missouri calls for allowing felony charges against health care staffing agencies that substantially raise their prices during a declared emergency.A New York bill includes a cap on the amount staffing agencies can charge health care facilities. And a Texas measure would allow civil penalties against such agencies.These proposed regulations — and others in at least 11 more states, according to the American Staffing Association industry trade group — come after demand for travel nurses, who work temporary assignments at different facilities, surged to unprecedented levels during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.Hospitals have long used temporary workers, who are often employed by third-party agencies, to help fill their staffing needs. But by December 2021, the average weekly travel nurse pay in the country had soared to $3,782, up from $1,896 in January 2020, according to a Becker’s Hospital Review analysis of data from hiring...

Disability-rights advocates decry planned cuts to transit service in St. Louis County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

The St. Louis region’s public transit agency plans to “improve customer service” by making cuts to its paratransit system serving those with disabilities.It’s a move disability rights advocates have decried as a “cruel” solution to a real problem.Metro Transit’s paratransit system, which is called Call-A-Ride, provides services for those with disabilities in St. Louis city and St. Louis county, as required by federal law. Customers with disabilities can call to reserve a ride in a wheelchair-accessible van, which provides curb-to-curb service rather than operating on a fixed route.For years, customers have faced steep wait times and high rates of denials for the service. At the heart of the issue is staffing. Metro said this month that 40% of operator positions for Call-A-Ride are unfilled, while demand for rides “has increased substantially.”In January, roughly 18,000 of the 47,000 requests for Call-A-Ride had to be denied, Metro wrote in a letter to advocates this week.The ag...

Missouri’s Department of Social Services sued for alleged Sunshine Law violations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:24:21 GMT

A software company that successfully sued the state and was awarded $23 million last year has filed a new lawsuit against Missouri’s Department of Social Services, alleging the agency “knowingly and purposefully” violated open records law.According to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Cole County, Florida-based HHS Technology submitted a request for records to the social services department in late April 2022. The department acknowledged receiving the request in May and said responsive records “may be” available in July. The company says it did not hear back from DSS, despite repeated queries, until last month, when after 10 months the state formally denied the request and refused to turn over records.The state said the documents were exempt from the Sunshine Law because they were related to ongoing litigation.  Top story: Remains in Crawford County possibly of woman missing since 2014 The lawsuit disputes that the documents fall under that exemption to Missouri’s open records la...