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No Champagne for Swedes at NATO yet, PM says 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

VILNIUS — The Champagne will have to wait. Sweden won a major breakthrough on its path to NATO membership this week when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to send Stockholm’s application for parliamentary ratification in Ankara. But in the Lithuanian capital, where NATO leaders are gathered for a two-day summit, the Swedish delegation is holding off on full-scale celebrations.  “We thought the Champagne will have to wait until the ratifications are there,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told POLITICO in an interview on Tuesday of his team’s commemoration of the milestone. “So yesterday we gathered in a conference room and had a beer together.” If the ratification happens, the Swedish leader said, “perhaps we’ll have Champagne.” Sweden applied for NATO membership in 2022 together with Finland in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But despite introducing legal changes to address Turkish concerns about Kurdish groups, Stockholm’s...

A surging river floods Vermont’s capital as crews rescue more than 100 people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

ANDOVER, Vt. (AP) — A storm that dumped up to two months of rain in two days in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast brought more flooding Tuesday to communities marooned by water, including the state capital, where officials kept watch on a dam just upstream.There were signs of hope in some areas where flood waters had begun to recede and officials began assessing the damage and the scope of the clean-up ahead.The flooding has already caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, officials said, with more to come: If water pours over the dam on the Winooski River that flows through Montpelier, it could surge through downtown blocks where the floods were already waist-high.City officials said Tuesday afternoon, however, they had not seen any significant changes in the water levels at the dam, but would continue to monitor it.“Floodwaters continue to rise in some places, like our capital city, and have surpassed the levels seen during Tropical Storm Irene,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scot...

Elizabeth Holmes could be released from prison two years earlier than expected

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

(CNN) — Disgraced former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes could be out of prison nearly two years earlier than expected, according to the projected release date posted by the Bureau of Prisons.Holmes reported to a Texas prison camp in late May after being sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison at the end of last year. The Bureau of Prisons online database now reports, however, that Holmes’ expected release date is December 29, 2032 – which would take roughly two years off of her full sentence.The discrepancy appears to be due to how the Bureau of Prisons calculates its estimated release date.A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told CNN that the agency cannot comment on the conditions of any individual inmate, but said that inmates can earn Good Conduct Time (or GCT) that is calculated into their projected release date. Qualified inmates are currently eligible for up to 54 days of GCT time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court.Moreove...

Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released from prison after serving 53 years of a life sentence for 2 murders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released from prison after serving 53 years of a life sentence for 2 murders.

Alex Rodriguez says Angels should trade Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

Alex Rodriguez recommends the Angels take a big swing — by trading Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.The former Yankees slugger believes moving both superstars would allow the Angels, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2014, to win a World Series within five years.“You try to get five or six players, load up with first rounders,” Rodriguez said during Fox Sports’ coverage of the All-Star festivities. “The next thing that you have to do is bring in a guy like [general manager] Theo Epstein, give him ownership, and let him run the shop. … I don’t think you have the time, but that would be the move.”The bold suggestion caught the attention of his fellow Fox Sports panelists, including ex-Yankees teammate Derek Jeter.“So the first move is to trade Ohtani, and then Trout, then you sell the team, and then move you out of Anaheim, in that order,” Jeter replied, earning a laugh. “But everything you say makes sense. No one k...

Jury decides 2014 document found in Aretha Franklin’s couch is a valid will

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

By ED WHITE (Associated Press)PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A document handwritten by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her couch after her 2018 death is a valid Michigan will, a jury said Tuesday, a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other.It’s a victory for Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin whose lawyers had argued that papers dated 2014 should override a 2010 will that was discovered around the same time in a locked cabinet at the Queen of Soul’s home in suburban Detroit.The jury deliberated less than an hour after a brief trial that started Monday. After the verdict was read, Aretha Franklin’s grandchildren stepped forward from the first row to hug Kecalf and Edward.“I’m very, very happy. I just wanted my mother’s wishes to be adhered to,” Kecalf Franklin said. “We just want to exhale right now. It’s been a long five years for my family, my children.”Aretha Franklin did not leave behind a...

Ways to save money in New York City this summer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

Donald Wood | (TNS) TravelPulseFor travelers considering a trip to New York City this summer, there is plenty to do in the city that never sleeps. They’ll also be in good company: The city is on track to welcome 63.3 million visitors in 2023.New York City Tourism + Conventions, the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City, is spotlighting a selection of free and affordable experiences for visitors to enjoy this summer.“New York City offers something for everyone, no matter your interests, the length of your trip or your budget—there is more to see and do here than in virtually any other city in the world,” said Fred Dixon, President and CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions. “During the summer months, NYC is buzzing with street festivals, outdoor dining and cultural offerings, in addition to beautiful parks, beaches and green space. We invite visitors to take advantage of the value of a summer vi...

Native American leaders visit site of archeological dig to find remains of boarding school students

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

GENOA, Neb. (AP) — Archeologists resumed digging Tuesday at the remote site of a former Native American boarding school in central Nebraska, searching for the remains of children who died there decades ago. The search for a hidden cemetery near the former Genoa Indian Industrial School in Nebraska gained renewed interest after the discovery of hundreds of children’s remains at other Native American boarding school sites across the U.S. and Canada since 2021, said Dave Williams, the state’s archeologist whose team is digging at the site.The team hasn’t found human remains yet, Williams said, but the dig only began on Monday and is expected to last through the week.Birds called into the sun- and wind-filled space as excavators worked within the confines of an orange fence and yellow caution tape. They sifted steadily through dirt and tossed water away while Native American leaders and community members watched intently from the sidelines.“I came today to witness the dig be...

Utah Supreme Court scrutinizes process that sliced state’s most Democrat-heavy district into 4

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether courts should allow the state’s Republican-majority Legislature to carve up Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County into four congressional districts.The fight asks if state courts can evaluate whether district maps drawn by elected officials violate the state constitution and is the latest battle over how states draw such maps. It follows a recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling denying legislatures absolute power to do so.Utah — along with Kentucky, New Mexico, New York,Pennsylvania, Maryland and Alaska — is among the states in which Republicans and Democrats have battled over whether partisan gerrymandering violates the law and imperils people’s right to choose their representatives in a democracy.Utah differs from those other venues, however, because voters in 2018 approved an initiative creating an independent redistricting commission designed to ensure maps weren’t drawn to favor o...

Winnipeg police charge former fashion mogul Peter Nygard with sexual assault

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

WINNIPEG — Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard faces new charges of sexual assault and unlawful confinement after Manitoba justice officials sought a second opinion of the evidence outside his home province. Winnipeg police said a person came forward in 2020 with allegations about a sexual assault at the Nygard corporate headquarters in Manitoba’s capital in 1993.The 81-year-old was arrested Tuesday at the Toronto South Detention Centre, where he remains in custody for similar charges in Ontario.There were originally no charges laid in Manitoba, where Nygard had spent decades ensuring that everyone knew his name and his face. For years Nygard stores throughout Winnipeg were draped in photos of the mogul and he was given a key to the city in 2008.Winnipeg police have said they submitted eight cases for consideration by the Crown, but prosecutors decided not to lay charges. That decision drew ire in Nygard’s hometown, especially as police forces elsewhere in Canada laid charges.Nygard f...