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Iowa Republicans will pursue a 6-week abortion ban during a special session that starts Tuesday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Republican-controlled Legislature will aim to enact a ban on abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy during a rare special session that starts Tuesday, a draft of the bill shows.The proposed measure is similar to a 2018 law that a deadlocked state Supreme Court declined to reinstate last month, prompting Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds to call for the extraordinary session. Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.The drafted bill, like the 2018 law, would prohibit abortion once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. A district court deemed that law unconstitutional in 2019 given rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the state’s highest court that affirmed a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to abortion. Both bodies overturned those rulings last year, so Reynolds sought to reinstate the 2018 law.The current draft of the b...

A 10-year-old Canadian girl is wowing the skateboarding world. Tony Hawk is her mentor for X Games

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

Skateboarding is more than just a way of life for Reese Nelson, it’s all she’s ever known.The 10-year-old from Calgary can’t remember when she first started skating or when she first dropped into a halfpipe, it’s just been omnipresent in her life.Given that, it’s no surprise she has caught the attention of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.Nelson will be competing in the women’s vert and the best trick events at the upcoming X-Games. Skating in the women’s vert is especially important for Nelson, since that event hasn’t been held at the X-Games since 2010, three years before she was born.“It’s really exciting,” Nelson from Carlsbad, California, told The Canadian Press. “I’m excited for everybody to see what women can do on vert.”Hawk, who has become a mentor and coach for Nelson, created his Vert Alert event in 2021 to try and promote the sport that made him an internationally renowned star. He made sure his tour has men’s and women’s events to help re-establish vert skateboardin...

Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred for pursuing Trump’s false election claims, a review panel says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani could be disbarred in Washington after a review panel on Friday condemned how he pursued the false claims that then-President Donald Trump made about his 2020 presidential election loss. Giuliani “claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence,” wrote the three-member panel in a report that details the errors and unsupported claims the former mayor made in a Pennsylvania lawsuit seeking to overturn the Republican president’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Between Election Day and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Giuliani and other Trump lawyers repeatedly pressed claims of election fraud that were almost uniformly rejected by federal and state courts. He’s the third lawyer who could lose his ability to practice law over what he did for Trump: John Eastman faces disbarment in California, and Lin Wood this week surrendered his license in Georgia.“Mr. Giuliani’s effort to undermine the integrity of the 2020 p...

Calgary real estate market sizzles as newcomers flock to Alberta

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

CALGARY — As the curtain rises on the 10-day extravaganza that is the famed Calgary Stampede, homebuyers are also stampeding to snap up real estate in Alberta’s largest city.This summer, the hottest commodity in town isn’t the perfect pair of cowboy boots or a well-broken-in Stetson — it’s a detached home on a nice lot or a perfect downtown condo with a view.“It started taking off around February, and it’s been like this all year,” said Calgary real estate agent Matt Halladay, who has been helping buyers navigate what has become Canada’s hottest real estate market in 2023.That means homes selling often the day they’re listed, he said, for well over the asking price — and occasionally sight unseen, as sellers accept a bid before the scheduled viewings even start.“It’s common to see anywhere from four to 17 offers (on one listing),” Halladay said. “The most I’ve heard of, on one that we lost out on, was 26 o...

S&P/TSX composite ticks upward on energy and base metals, U.S. stock markets down

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

TORONTO — Gains in energy and base metal stocks helped lift Canada’s main stock index higher Friday, while U.S. markets were down after a day of mixed trading. New jobs data in the U.S. and Canada released Friday showed a still-resilient labour market, helping seal the deal for central banks on both sides of the border to announce interest rate hikes at their next meetings. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 20.35 points at 19,831.04.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 187.38 points at 33,734.88. The S&P 500 index was down 12.64 points at 4,398.95, while the Nasdaq composite was down 18.33 points at 13,660.72.Canada posted a bigger-than-expected gain of 60,000 jobs in June after a loss in May, but also saw unemployment rise to 5.4 per cent. June was the second month in a row the unemployment rate has risen as economists and central bank officials eye the labour market for signs of cooling. “The Bank of Canada has little choice but to raise another 25...

Antisemitic flyers linked to U.S. based hate group raise concerns in Peterborough

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

Advocacy organizations say the distribution of antisemitic flyers in Peterborough and elsewhere is linked to an American hate group, as police continue to investigate the latest incident.Over the Canada Day long weekend, 19 Peterborough residents reported receiving flyers promoting anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and white supremacist propaganda, marking the third time in three months that such flyers were distributed to various neighbourhoods in the city.“It’s just not acceptable that our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community have been targeted for this kind of vile hatred,” said Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal.The mayor said the hateful conduct originated from the United States and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish advocacy organization, and others have specifically linked the flyers to the U.S.-based hate group Goyim Defense League (GDL). GDL is described as a “loose” network of individuals on the internet who stream antisemitic co...

'It's been hell': Northwest Indiana family remembers positive spirit of daughter killed in tailgating crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

CHICAGO — A Northwest Indiana family is devastated after losing their 19-year-old daughter in a Fourth of July crash due to a driver tailgating and a subsequent head-on collision.Jake Norris was getting ready to celebrate the Fourth when he got a call from one of his daughter's friends. His older daughter, Grace Norris, 19, of Demotte, was with her sister Emma, 13, on the way to pick up one of Emma's friends. He frantically began calling them."My girls always answer," Norris told WGN News. "I called both about four or five times then I checked Life360. They hadn't moved in 50 minutes."Life360 is an app that lets families track locations of loved ones.Norris jumped in his car and headed to the scene in the 7000 block of East 117th Avenue in Winfield. "Pulled up on the scene and saw all the lights," Norris said. "I saw the coroner's van and I knew it wasn't going to be good."Grace and JakeAuthorities believe a 44-year-old Crown Point woman was tailgating a Jeep when she attempted to p...

CPD officers under investigation for sexual relationship with migrants living at station

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is reportedly investigating allegations against officers who engaged in sexual relations with migrants living at a West Side patrol district.According to a spokesman with the Chicago Police Department, an internal investigation was launched on Thursday into allegations that "officer or officers" engaged in sexual relationships with migrants who were living in a police station on the city's West Side.The "officer or officers" involved were assigned to the Ogden District, that covers Chicago's Little Village and Lawndale neighborhoods.Chicago Sun-Times reported that police are investigating whether cops had the sexual relations with the new immigrants, including a teenage girl who is pregnant. Glen Ellyn woman faces 132 counts of animal cruelty charges Since their arrival to the city, the Chicago Police Department has housed many migrants at stations across the city, along with several city-owned buildings as temporary housing.Some of the sexu...

Suburban man who drowned trying to help children had survived 9/11 attacks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

WINNETKA, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man who drowned in Lake Michigan while trying to help children struggling in the lake was a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, his family said.Witnesses said Luke Laidley, 43, was boating Tuesday with others on the lakefront north of Chicago when he jumped into the lake to help at least one child who had fallen off a raft being pulled by the boat.The Winnetka man went underwater before being pulled from the lake by others on the boat. Laidley died later Tuesday at an Evanston hospital and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that his manner of death was drowning, said Natalia Derevyanny, an office spokeswoman. ‘It’s been hell’: Northwest Indiana family remembers positive spirit of daughter killed in tailgating crash An obituary prepared by his family states that Laidley “risked his life for the children who were struggling when their tube flipped on Lake Michigan.”The obituary adds t...

Hammond to consider closing gas stations overnight to curb crime

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:45 GMT

HAMMOND, Ind. — The City of Hammond Common Council will consider an ordinance that would close gas stations overnight in an effort to combat violent crime. Backed by Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr., the ordinance would mandate the closure of any gas station in city limits between midnight and 5 a.m. City officials referenced violent crimes — carjackings, robberies, batteries, shootings and homicide — that occurred late at night and in the early morning at gas stations.MORE NORTHWEST INDIANA NEWS: 17-year-old charged after ‘despicable vandalism’ found on Chesterton sign“We have seen over the last several years violent criminal acts, often involving firearms, occurring at gas stations late and night and in the early morning hours. My job as mayor is to ensure the public’s safety and this ordinance removes a place where, unfortunately, violent incidents continue to take place. I can’t sit back and see innocent people become victims of violent crime. I fully support the Cou...