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House OKs debt ceiling bill to avoid default, sends Biden-McCarthy deal to Senate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, STEPHEN GROVES and FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Veering away from a default crisis, the House approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent.The hard-fought deal pleased few, but lawmakers assessed it was better than the alternative — a devastating economic upheaval if Congress failed to act. Tensions ran high throughout the day as hard-right Republicans refused the deal, while Democrats said “extremist” GOP views were risking a debt default as soon as next week.With the House vote of 314-117, the bill now heads to the Senate with passage expected by week’s end.McCarthy insisted his party was working to “give America hope” as he launched into a late evening speech extolling the bill’s bu...

Danny Masterson convicted of 2 counts of rape, ‘That 70’s Show’ actor faces 30 years to life

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

By ANDREW DALTON (AP Entertainment Writer)LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and could get 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.Masterson’s wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, gasped when the verdict was read and wept as he was taken into custody, while a group of family and friends who sat stone-faced behind him throughout both trials.The jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.Masterson, 47, will be held without bail until he is sentenced. No sentencing date has yet been set, but the judge told Masterson and his lawyers to retu...

Police investigate vandalism reports in South Bay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

CHULA VISTA Calif. -- A string of vandalism crimes over the weekend are being investigated in the Chula Vista area, authorities said.Police received several calls of vandalism in the area of Second Avenue and F Street on Saturday and Sunday, Sgt. Anthony Molina said in a news release Wednesday.A suspect wanted in a car vandalism incident in Chula Vista, according to police. (Chula Vista Police Department)In one of the reports, surveillance video caught a suspect, described as having a thin build and shoulder-length hair and a dark hoodie, standing on a vehicle's hood and damaging the windshield, according to authorities. Another report informed police about vandalism in the form of drawings and words spray-painted in a light blue color on areas such as walls, sidewalks and vehicles, police said. Several swastikas were also seen spray-painted in the same manner as the previous report.It is unknown at this time if the incidents are connected to each other."During the investigation, au...

New affordable housing coming to East Village

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Two new affordable housing complexes aiming to provide more than 200 permanent homes to people experiencing homelessness in San Diego will begin construction in the second half of 2024, Father Joe's Villages said Wednesday.Both communities will be located in the East Village neighborhood -- one at 17th and Commercial streets and the other at 16th Street and Island Avenue. A rendering of 16th and Island Avenue affordable housing complex set to be completed in 2026. (Father Joe's Villages)“We envision a future where no one in our region is forced to live without a home, and these two new communities take us one step closer to that vision,” said Deacon Jim Vargas, President and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the City of San Diego and other community leaders who are helping to make our goal of providing 2,000 units of affordable housing to the region a reality.” Approaching ‘June Gloom’ is leaving San Diegan...

Blue Jays’ Anthony Bass booed by home fans after anti-LGBTQ2S+ post

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

It appears a majority of Toronto Blue Jays supporters at the Rogers Centre don’t want anything to do with reliever Anthony Bass.In his first appearance since sharing an anti-LGBTQ2S+ video on Instagram, Bass was laboriously booed by fans at the ballpark as he entered the game and began to warm up.Anthony Bass comes into the game, greeted by a couple of separate choruses of boos. #Bluejays pic.twitter.com/NM3IpEA91i— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness) June 1, 2023After walking the first batter he faced, Bass would escape the inning unscathed, recording a strikeout. Toronto would lose the game 4-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers.Bass has been a trending topic on Twitter for several days since he shared the heavily criticized video on Instagram, with many fans and social media users calling on the Blue Jays to cut ties with the 35-year-old.The video in question was of another social media account of a man named Ryan Miller, who instructed the audience to consider boycotting Target on behal...

DeSantis plays up his personal side – and swipes at Trump – during campaign blitz across Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

SALIX, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis blitzed through Iowa during his first full day of presidential campaigning on Wednesday, aiming for the kind of personal connections with voters that critics say have long eluded him while stepping up his verbal swipes at former President Donald Trump. The Florida governor packed in four appearances that took him to cities, rural locales and the conservative heartland following his glitch-filled online campaign kickoff last week. The first was to the floor of Port Neal Welding in Salix, a rural town near Sioux City, where the nearby highway was lined with metal structures including a towering Jesus, a version of the Statue of Liberty and the Minions. DeSantis also hit Council Bluffs and Pella before concluding his day in Cedar Rapids. All that came after a Tuesday night appearance in the state capital, Des Moines. He didn’t take audience questions — usually a staple at Iowa presidential campaign events — during the five stops in front of more than 2,0...

Reports: Prosecutors have tape of Trump discussing holding onto classified doc after leaving office

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from after he left office in which he talks about holding onto a classified Pentagon document related to a potential attack on Iran, according to media reports.CNN first reported that Trump suggested on the recording that he wanted to share with others information from the document but that he knew there were limitations about his ability to declassify records after he left office. The comments on the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, undercut the former president’s repeated claims that he declassified the documents he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, after leaving office. The recording could also be a key aid for prosecutors looking to prove Trump knew his ability to possess classified documents was limited. The recording has been provided to special counsel Jack Smith, whose team of pros...

Grand jury charges ex-GOP candidate with election interference in shootings on lawmakers’ homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Wednesday.The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque takes aim at former Republican candidate Solomon Peña and two alleged accomplices with additional conspiracy and weapons-related charges in connection with the shootings in December 2022 and January of this year on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker.The attacks came amid a surge of threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials across the country after former President Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.U.S. Attorney Alexander Uballez highlighted that the shootings targeted the homes of two count...

Amputation frees woman from collapsed Iowa building debris

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — One moment Lexus Berry and her wife were rushing toward the door of their fourth-floor apartment, and the next, Quanishia “Peach” Berry was gone.Their apartment had disappeared into a heap of bricks and steel far below, leaving Lexis Berry running by herself to a stairwell in the teetering building, panicked that she might never see her wife again.“The moment that we hit the door, it started to shake and rattle and literally — it all just happened in the blink of a second – the floors caved in, like collapsed,” Lexus Berry said Wednesday. “So as the floors were falling, and she was falling four stories down, there were still two stories above her falling and two stories falling above me. It was all crumbling.”The six-story building in downtown Davenport partially collapsed just before 5 p.m. Sunday, but it took hours before rescuers found Peach Berry trapped in the rubble and then determined one of her legs would need to be amputated to pull her free. Lexus Be...

Judge dismisses criminal charges against California energy company in 2020 fatal wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A California judge on Wednesday dismissed all charges against Pacific Gas & Electric in connection to a 2020 fatal wildfire sparked by its equipment that destroyed hundreds of homes and killed four people, including an 8-year-old.The utility also reached a $50 million settlement agreement with the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office, officials from both announced in separate statements. The wind-whipped blaze began on Sept. 27, 2020, and raged through rugged terrain and small communities west of Redding, killing four people, burning about 200 homes and blackening about 87 square miles (225 square kilometers) of land in Shasta and Tehama counties.In 2021, state fire investigators concluded the fire was sparked by a gray pine tree that fell onto a PG&E distribution line. Shasta and Tehama counties sued the utility, alleging negligence. They said PG&E failed to remove the tree even though it had been marked for removal two years earlier. Th...