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Emmer bid collapses, extending extraordinary GOP Speaker losing streak

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer's (R-Minn.) Speakership nomination collapsed in extraordinary fashion Tuesday, surviving only four hours and showcasing the complete chaos enveloping the House GOP conference. Emmer withdrew his name from the running shortly after winning a fifth-round nomination ballot amid a field of crowded candidates. He trounced six other GOP lawmakers to secure the conference’s nomination.But minutes later, a contingent of Republicans made clear they would not back him on the House floor, making it virtually impossible for him to secure enough votes to win the gavel.Making matters worse for Emmer, former President Trump released a scathing statement calling the majority whip a “Globalist RINO” and saying voting for him “would be a tragic mistake.”For Emmer, known to his colleagues for being a hockey coach, the ice was too thin to skate on — and he announced his decision to withdraw his name from consideration Tuesday afternoon.Now, the House GOP conference is bein...

Bagged, precut onions linked to salmonella outbreak that has sickened 73 people in 22 states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

An outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to bagged, precut onions has sickened at least 73 people in 22 states, including 15 who were hospitalized, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. Gills Onions of Oxnard, California, has recalled packages of diced yellow onions, red onions, onions and celery and a mix of onions, celery and carrots, known as mirepoix. The products recalled had use-by dates in August 2023. They are no longer for sale in stores, but consumers may have them — or foods made with them — in freezers. Consumers should not eat, sell or serve the onions for foods made with them, health officials said. The diced onion products were sold at food service and other institutions in the U.S. and Canada and at retailers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Retail sites included Stater Bros., Bashas’ markets and Smart & Final stores in Arizona and California and Smart & Final and Chef’s Store in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho ...

Mississippi should set minimum wage higher than federal level, says Democrat running for governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Democrat who’s trying to unseat Mississippi’s Republican governor said Tuesday that the state should set a minimum wage higher than the federal standard of $7.25 an hour.Brandon Presley did not propose a specific number for a new wage in a state that has long been one of the poorest in the U.S., but he said he would work with leaders in the Republican-controlled state Legislature.“I think there could be some commonsense reform,” Presley, who’s currently a state utility regulator, said two weeks before he faces Gov. Tate Reeves in the Nov. 7 general election.Speaking during a forum at Tougaloo College, Presley said people cannot earn a living on $7.25 an hour. He talked about growing up in a home where his mother struggled to pay bills as a garment factory worker after his father was killed.“I understand what living paycheck-to-paycheck means. I’ve done it,” Presley said.A campaign spokesperson for Reeves did not immediately res...

A trial begins for a Hawaii couple accused of stealing identities of dead babies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — A trial began Tuesday for a Hawaii couple accused of fraudulently living for decades under stolen identities of dead babies.Polaroids of the couple wearing jackets that appear to be authentic KGB uniforms were introduced early on by prosecutors, who suggested the case was about more than just identity theft. But prosecutors later said the uniforms are not relevant to charges involving identity theft and passport fraud. There was no mention of Russian spy intrigue as the trial began Tuesday.The couple was arrested last year, and their defense attorneys have said from the start that those uniforms were worn once for fun.According to prosecutors, Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison are the real names of the couple who have been fraudulently living for decades under stolen identities Bobby Fort and Julie Montague. Prosecutors say Primrose spent more than 20 years in the Coast Guard as Bobby Fort, where he obtained secret-level security clearance. After retirin...

Texas sues Biden administration seeking to stop federal agents from cutting razor wire on border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas sued the Biden administration on Tuesday, seeking to stop federal agents from cutting the state’s razor wire that has gashed or snagged migrants as they have attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico at the Rio Grande.In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Del Rio, Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses the Biden administration of “undermining” the state’s border security efforts.“Texas has the sovereign right to construct border barriers to prevent the entry of illegal aliens,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said in a news release Tuesday. State authorities started rolling out miles (kilometers) of the concertina wire in May before the end of Title 42, a temporary emergency health authority used to turn migrants back during the pandemic. The sharp wire was deployed in areas of high traffic through the Rio Grande at the border near such locations as Brownsville and Eagle Pass, Texas.Migrant and environmental advocates quickly rais...

In Rhode Island, a hunt is on for the reason for dropping numbers of the signature quahog clam

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

Scientists, lawmakers, and those who make their living from Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay are teaming up to hunt for the reason why quahogs appear to be on the decline.Quahogs have a long history in the state. The shells of the large, hard-shelled clam were used by the indigenous Narragansett people as wampum. The clam itself is a staple of clam chowders and in 1987, the Rhode Island Legislature designated the quahog the official “Rhode Island State Shell.”On Tuesday, a special Rhode Island legislative commission held a hearing to study the reduced catch. The commission is looking at a range of possible factors that may be contributing to a loss of the signature shellfish, from oxygen deficiency to changing aquatic life and climate change.Quahogs — also known as little necks or cherry stones or chowder clams — are filter feeders drawing nutrients out of water columns. They don’t move much other than the first 2 to 3 weeks of their lives when they are larvae, according to Conor McM...

Mexico deploys 300 National Guard troopers to area where 13 police officers were killed in an ambush

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government sent 300 National Guard troopers to bolster the southern state of Guerrero on Tuesday, where a local police chief and 12 officers were shot dead in a brutal ambush the day before. It was just one of three attacks Monday in an increasingly violent region of the country.Announcing the reinforcements in his morning news conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mourned the victims and called the attack “practically an ambush.”Guerrero’s attorney general launched an investigation Monday after the 13 bodies were found on a highway in El Papayo, which is in the Guerrero township of Coyuca de Benítez on the Pacific coast. Two more people were injured in the attack.Some bodies were found handcuffed, face down on the ground, according to local reports, which could suggest the attackers ambushed and captured the police officers before killing them.Authorities did not provide any more details about the attack or those responsible. At leas...

Woman critically injured after shooting on South Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman was critically injured after she was shot in the head while in a car near a South Side strip mall Tuesday morning.At around 10 a.m., officers responded to the 100 block of West 87th Street, located in Chatham, on the report of a person shot.Authorities said a 41-year-old woman was inside of a vehicle when a bullet went through the glass and struck her in the head. Chicago man charged in connection with 7 burglaries on North, Near South Sides The victim's husband, Jesus Garcia, later returned to the scene with the family’s pastor to pick up his vehicle, which had a bullet hole through the front windshield and the headrest. Garcia even held a fragment of a bullet in his hand that he claimed he pulled from the vehicle.Garcia told WGN-TV News that the altercation stemmed from a road rage incident that started near the intersection of South Lafayette Avenue & West 87th Street before it carried into the parking lot of the nearby hardware store. ...

Flesh-eating parasite spread by sand flies is causing skin infections in US, CDC says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) – A flesh-eating parasitic disease, typically seen in people who travel to tropical or subtropical areas, is now spreading through some sand flies in parts of the U.S., according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis.The disease, known as leishmaniasis, occurs through a bite of an infected female sand fly, which consumes blood to produce eggs. The infection is most common in parts of Africa, Brazil, and the eastern Mediterranean region, like Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, according to the World Health Organization. The CDC now believes the disease may be endemic, or regularly occurring, in Texas and other states. The agency has received anecdotal reports of leishmaniasis in Florida, though the cases haven't been confirmed, according to NBC News. Past studies have also noted occasional cases among non-travelers in southeast Oklahoma and Arizona. RSV shots for infants in short supply: CDC “Historically, it was considered that cutan...

Six Flags Great America closing two attractions, preparing for ‘future expansion’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:25 GMT

Six Flags Great America in Gurnee has confirmed that two attractions will be closing forever. Revolution (2004) and Mardi Gras Hangover (2018). Both rides will be removed from Six Flags Great America in the offseason. Photos courtesy Six Flags.Revolution, the spinning pendulum ride located in the County Fair section of the park, will be removed after this season. The ride’s fate was pretty much sealed when Great America announced Sky Striker, their new addition for 2024. Sky Striker is a much taller and faster pendulum ride and will be located just steps from where Revolution sits now. You can find a full preview of the new attraction here. Mardi Gras Hangover is also being removed from the park. Hangover is a Larson Loop attraction that was billed as the largest ride of its kind when it first opened in 2018. It takes riders back and forth in one giant loop. Here's a video of me riding the attraction LIVE on WGN Morning News on opening day. Great America visitors will...