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Editorial: After Interstate 10 inferno, California should stop leasing freeway land

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

A major Los Angeles freeway was shut down for eight days last month after a crammed state-leased storage area underneath erupted in a massive blaze that damaged the roadway.The same thing could easily happen in the Bay Area, where the California Department of Transportation similarly rents out land below thoroughfares for storage without proper oversight.It’s time for Caltrans to end the reckless program.Caltrans Director Tony Tavares’ own report 11 days after the Interstate 10 inferno shows that the agency is incapable of monitoring the land it leases out for storage — or assessing whether the income justifies the risks.Worse, even when Caltrans knows about hazards, it’s unable to take timely action to avoid a catastrophe.As reporting from the Southern California News Group shows, state inspectors had flagged fire hazards and other lease violations for years at the site where the Interstate 10 fire began.Yet Caltrans did not initiate eviction proceedings against the tenant un...

Prince George’s Co. officer just acquitted of murder pleads not guilty to fraud charges

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

A police officer in Prince George’s County, Maryland, who was acquitted of murder earlier this week, has now pleaded not guilty in a federal fraud case.Cpl. Michael Owen and five other officers were indicted in 2021 for allegedly participating in conspiracies to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud.According to the complaint, Owen conspired with Conrad D’Haiti, an officer with the Maryland National Capital Park Police, to file a false police report about a stolen car. They then allegedly hid that car in a garage and submitted a claim on it to Liberty Mutual.Some of the other officers are accused of taking money out of an ATM, then reporting their cards stolen and submitting for reimbursement.Owen pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday, according to NBC4. He was released without bond but will have to remain in the D.C. area. However, he will be allowed to attend his father’s funeral out of state.It is the first time Owen has been out of prison since he was arrested for mu...

Peek inside Joe Biden’s campaign fundraisers, where big money mingles with old jokes in swanky homes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If you’re a Democrat with money to burn and friends in high places, you can spend thousands on tickets to a fundraiser with President Joe Biden. If not, keep reading to see what you’re missing. With an election year around the corner, Biden is accelerating his fundraising to prepare for an astronomically expensive campaign. (Think billions, not millions.) In this rarefied world, money equals access, and supporters regularly pay top dollar for a personal glimpse of the world’s most powerful man. Biden is collecting cash across the Los Angeles area this weekend, and his first stop was a sprawling estate where the host joked “it’s just a normal Friday at our house” as hundreds of donors sipped wine in the backyard.“You’re the reason why we’re gonna win, God willing, in 2024,” Biden told the audience.Each fundraiser is a little different, but there’s a similar script. A look at what it’s like inside the presidential money hunt...

Tough decisions, possible tax increases cloud coming Md. legislative session

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

Taxes and cost shifts are on the table for the coming General Assembly session as Gov. Wes Moore (D) and lawmakers look to solve both a structural budget shortfall and massive cuts to transportation projects.Eric Luedtke, Moore’s chief legislative officer, told county officials Friday that the coming legislative session will center around “answering some really tough questions” because of an end to billions in federal aid that pumped up state coffers in recent years.“How do we continue to achieve what we all want to achieve in terms of education, in terms of transportation in terms of economic development in terms of public safety? How do we do that in the context of a fiscal situation that is tighter than it’s been for the last few years?” Luedtke said during the closing day of the Maryland Association of Counties winter convention in Cambridge.Local government leaders left the Eastern Shore after a tough three days that focused on $3 billion in ...

Corte Suprema de Texas suspende orden que otorgaba permiso a embarazada para abortar

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

La Corte Suprema de Texas bloqueó temporalmente la orden que le permitiría a una mujer embarazada solicitar un aborto debido a las pocas probabilidades de que su bebé sobreviva, según el parte médico y en un desafío sin precedentes a la ley estatal que lo prohíbe.El fallo que “suspende administrativamente” la orden de un tribunal inferior no es la última palabra, pero detiene la decisión que autorizó a Kate Cox, de 31 años y madre de dos hijos, a abortar.La jueza estatal Maya Guerra Gamble, de tendencia demócrata, dijo que otorgaría un recurso temporario a Cox para obtener un aborto bajo las escasas excepciones que permite la ley. Se esperaba que el estado apelara el fallo.La ley de Texas prohíbe casi todos los abortos con excepciones limitadas. Los abogados en su nombre solicitaron y obtuvieron con éxito una orden de emergencia que permitiera a Cox abortar. Jueza de Texas otorga permiso a embarazada para abortar pese a prohibición estatal Po...

Su madre desapareció cuando ella tenía un año. Unos 40 años después, una llamada telefónica de una extraña la ayudó a comprender por qué

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

(CNN) — Misty LaBean pasó toda su vida preguntándose por qué su madre abandonó a su familia cuando ella solo tenía un año.La desaparición de Connie Christensen hace 40 años de Wisconsin no fue algo inesperado para el resto de sus familiares: ella se había ido antes, huyendo cuando era una adolescente e incluso trabajando en un carnaval.“Después de que nacieron mis propios hijos, pensé, ¿cómo pudo haberme dejado así?” LaBean le dijo a CNN. “Nunca les haría eso a mis hijos”.Durante toda su vida, LaBean solo escuchó susurros sobre su madre. El resto de su familia estaba herida y reacia incluso a hablar de Christensen, creyendo que ella había decidido marcharse con solo 20 años.Sin embargo, durante todo ese tiempo había algo más que LaBean no sabía: extraños a cientos de kilómetros de distancia buscaban respuestas al mismo misterio.La clave para desbloquearlo (con su ayuda) sería el tiempo, junto con el inexorable avance de la ciencia. Con el tiempo, quienes buscaban l...

Why this Towson U. economist is calling for Maryland to grow its population

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

Maryland needs to grow its population as part of an effort to grow its economy and pull itself out of a budgetary morass, according to one economist.That message comes just weeks before lawmakers head to Annapolis next month facing a series of difficult budgetary decisions as federal pandemic aid dries up.A state economy over-dependent on jobs tied to the federal government is not firing on all cylinders as some employers, including state government, struggle to fill open positions, said Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University.“I would argue the only way we can do this successfully is to grow our population and grow the number of businesses,” said Irani. “If we don’t do that, we’re just going to shrink. And that’s going to be the end of the investment challenge.”Irani’s assessment to county leaders, who gathered in Cambridge this week at the Maryland Association of Counties winter conference, was delivered as state and local g...

Abortion delays have grown more common in the US since Roe v. Wade was overturned

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

A woman whose fetus was unlikely to survive called more than a dozen abortion clinics before finding one that would take her, only to be put on weekslong waiting lists. A teen waited seven weeks for an abortion because it took her mother that long to get her an appointment. Others seeking the procedure faced waits because they struggled to travel hundreds of miles for care.Such obstacles have grown more common since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, doctors and researchers say, causing delays that can lead to abortions that are more complex, costly and in some cases riskier — especially as pregnancies get further along.About half of U.S. states now have laws that ban or restrict access to abortion. Because of that, many clinics don’t offer the procedure, which has increased demand for appointments at the remaining providers.At various points since Roe, waits in several states stretched for two or three weeks, and some clinics had no available appointments, according to result...

Technology built the cashless society. Advances are helping the unhoused so they’re not left behind

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Littlejohn remembers the days when lots of people had a couple of dollars to spare to buy a copy of Street Sense, the local paper that covers issues related to the homeless and employs unhoused individuals as its vendors.Today, he’s finding fewer people are walking around with spare change. Even well-meaning individuals who want to help are likely to pat their pockets and apologize, he said.“I would be out here for six or seven hours and wouldn’t get more than $12 to $15,” said Littlejohn, 62, who was homeless for 13 years. “People are like, ‘I don’t leave the house with cash.’”But just as technological shifts helped create the problem, further advances are now helping charitable groups and advocates for the unhoused reach those most in danger of being left behind in a cashless society.A special Street Sense phone app allows people to buy a copy electronically and have the profits go straight to him. Thanks to Social Security and his income f...

5 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ 4th straight win, including Coby White’s hot night and a 1st from Victor Wembanyama

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:23 GMT

The Chicago Bulls aren’t slowing down.Led by another hot night from Coby White, the Bulls won their fourth consecutive game without Zach LaVine in a 121-112 finish against the host San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.The Bulls are on their longest winning streak since February 2022. The game also extended the Spurs’ skid to 16 games, the second-longest in the league. The Detroit Pistons lost their 19th straight Friday.Here are five takeaways from the win.1. Another resurgent 3rd quarter rescues the Bulls.It took the Bulls a full half to warm up. While the Spurs shot 50% from behind the arc, the Bulls couldn’t crack 40% from the field in the opening half, taking a 63-52 deficit into the locker room.The Bulls went on a 12-0 run to erase their deficit in the third quarter, retaking the lead with just less than five minutes left in the frame when Coby White sank his fourth 3-pointer of the night. The Bulls outscored the Spurs 35-20 in the third. The Spurs were within one...