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McCarthy gives in to right flank on spending cuts, but they still deliver a defeat as shutdown looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

By LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy emerged with a spending cut plan to prevent a federal government shutdown by appeasing his hard-right flank, only to see it quickly collapse Thursday in a crushing defeat.His latest attempt to move ahead with a traditionally popular defense funding bill was shattered by a core group of Republican colleagues who refused to vote for the endangered speaker’s plans.A test vote to advance the bill failed, 212-216, as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to stop it. Once again, the House then came to a sudden standstill and declared itself in recess.A federal shutdown is looming Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year, if Congress cannot pass the bills needed to fund the government.McCarthy’s strategy of repeatedly giving in to the hard-right conservatives is seemingly only emboldening them as a handful of GOP lawmakers, urged on by Donald Trump, the party&#...

An end in sight? Striking writers and Hollywood studios resume negotiations for second day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood studios and striking screenwriters are resuming negotiations for the second consecutive day Thursday. The talks could potentially put an end to the nearly five-month dispute that has brought many film and television productions to a halt.In a rare joint statement issued Wednesday night, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the industry’s studios, streaming services and production companies in union negotiations, and the Writers Guild of America, said that they’d met for bargaining Wednesday and would continue Thursday. Present at the meeting were a group of top entertainment CEOs including Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Universal’s Donna Langley and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos. The four are likely to be present at the talks Thursday as well. CNBC reporter David Faber wrote on X, previously Twitter, Wednesday that the writers and AMPTP were “nearR...

Zelenskyy delivers upbeat message to US lawmakers on war progress as some Republican support softens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a whirlwind return visit to Washington on Thursday to shore up U.S. support for Ukraine, delivering an upbeat message on the war’s progress while facing new questions about the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces. The Ukrainian leader received a far quieter reception than the hero’s welcome he got last year, but also won generally favorable comments on the aid he says he needs to stave off defeat.Zelenskyy, in long-sleeve olive drab, came to the Capitol with a firm message in private talks with Republican and Democratic leaders. The Ukrainians have a solid war plan, and “they are winning,” lawmakers quoted him as assuring them, at a time that the world is watching Western support for Kyiv. Zelenskyy also spoke with military leaders at the Pentagon and was meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin greeted Zel...

Trudeau seeks India’s help on probe of B.C. killing, India says Canada gave no info

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for India’s help to investigate the killing of a Sikh independence activist on Canadian soil, while New Delhi says Canada has provided no information on the case.Trudeau told Parliament on Monday there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had been wanted by India for years and was gunned down in June outside the B.C. temple he led.At the United Nations today, Trudeau said during a news conference he wants India to take the matter seriously and work with Canada to ensure accountability and justice. Trudeau stressed that Canada would not waver on the importance of the rule of law, protecting Canadians and standing up for its values. At a briefing today, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said no specific information had been shared by Canada on the Nijjar case.Bagchi said India has told Canada it is willing to look at any information it...

Tech companies try to take AI image generators mainstream with better protections against misuse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

Artificial intelligence tools that can conjure whimsical artwork or realistic-looking images from written commands started wowing the public last year. But most people don’t actually use them at work or home.That could change as leading tech companies are competing to mainstream the use of text-to-image generators for a variety of tasks, integrating them into familiar tools such as Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, YouTube and ChatGPT. But first, they’re trying to convince consumers, business users and government regulators that they’ve tamed some of the Wild West nature of early AI image-generators with stronger safeguards against copyright theft and troubling content. A year ago, it was a relatively small group of early adopters and hobbyists playing with cutting-edge image generators such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney and OpenAI’s DALL-E.“The previous ones were an interesting curiosity,” but businesses were wary, said David Truog, an analyst at market re...

Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office can’t account for nearly 200 guns, city comptroller finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office can’t account for 185 missing guns, according to a report released this week by the city controller’s office.Some of the missing guns were part of the sheriff’s office’s arsenal and others were confiscated from people subject to protection-from-abuse orders. Acting City Controller Charles Edacheril said his office conducted the review as a follow-up to a 2020 report that found the sheriff’s office couldn’t account for more than 200 weapons. That report stated that the office had haphazard recordkeeping practices and unclear procedures regarding the handling of guns.Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, who took office in 2020, said earlier this year that all but 20 of the weapons cited in the 2020 report had since been accounted for. They had been located, disposed of or sold.The controller, though, notified the sheriff’s office on Wednesday that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to account for 76 of its guns and 109 weapons t...

Candidates in Kentucky governor’s race preview debates on tax cuts, education, and abortion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear declared that now is not the time to “sub out the quarterback” when Kentucky has so much momentum, while Republican challenger Daniel Cameron said he’s the one who can team up with GOP legislators to tackle the state’s nagging problems.The rivals offered contrasting assessments of how the state is faring during a Wednesday night forum hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. They appeared separately to field questions from a moderator. It was a preview of upcoming debates in one of the nation’s most closely watched elections in 2023.Beshear is seeking a second term while Cameron is trying to reclaim the governorship for the GOP to consolidate its power in Frankfort, where Republicans have legislative supermajorities.The candidates offered differing views on the appropriate pace for eliminating the state individual income tax and touted competing plans for education and how to boost workforce participation. They...

Mississippi governor set to release proposal to help financially struggling hospitals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is set to release a proposal Thursday aimed at helping some of the state’s financially struggling hospitals, even as the Democrat who is trying to unseat him has spent months hammering Reeves for opposing Medicaid expansion in one of the poorest states in the nation.Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid to low-wage workers whose jobs don’t provide private health insurance. Expansion is an option under the health care overhaul signed into law in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama.Reeves has said for years that he opposes Medicaid expansion because he does not want to add more people to a government program that he derides as “welfare.”Health officials have said Mississippi could receive about $1 billion a year from the federal government for Medicaid expansion. The federal government would pay 90% of the cost for people added to the program, and the state government would pay 10%.Bran...

India suspends visa services for citizens of Canada, Trudeau says he’s not trying to cause problems

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated Thursday that Canada is not looking to provoke or cause problems after India halted all visa services for citizens of Canada and told it to reduce its diplomatic staffing on as a rift widened between the countries after the prime minister said India may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.Ties between Ottawa and New Delhi, key strategic partners in security and trade, have plunged to their lowest point in years after Trudeau this week said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on its soil. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen who had been wanted by India for years, was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in Surrey, outside Vancouver. “We are not looking to provoke or cause problems but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians a...

Jail where murderer Danilo Cavalcante escaped plans to wall off yard and make other upgrades

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:26 GMT

The Pennsylvania jail from which convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante brazenly escaped, eluding searchers for two weeks, plans to enclose its exercise yards with walls and a roof and make inmates wear brighter uniforms, along with other security improvements.The Chester County jail board unanimously approved plans Wednesday to fully enclose the exercise yards at the facility in Pocopson, southwest of Philadelphia. The project is expected to cost $2.5 million to $3.5 million and could take as long as nine months to complete.TranSystems, a Kansas City, Missouri-based engineering and design company hired for the redesign, said the new enclosures will be a “permanent solution” to the security flaws that Cavalcante exploited in his Aug. 31 escape by crab-walking up between two walls that were topped with razor wire and then jumping from the roof.The redesign plan calls for fully enclosed exercise yards, with 18-foot-high masonry walls to replace fencing, and the removal of shed roofs tha...