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Texas lawmaker resigns ahead of misconduct expulsion vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Republican Texas state lawmaker resigned Monday ahead of an expected vote to expel him after an investigation found he had inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern. Rep. Bryan Slaton, 45, had faced mounting calls from the state Republican party and conservative groups to resign after the House investigation determined last week that he gave the intern and another young staffer alcohol at his home, had sex with the intern after she was intoxicated, and later showed her a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet. Slaton also asked a fellow lawmaker to keep his behavior secret, the House General Investigating Committee report noted. The chairman of the investigating panel, Rep. Andrew Murr, said he still plans to call for a vote to expel Slaton because he remains an officer of the state until a successor is elected and sworn in.Slaton’s resignation letter did not address the allegations, which his atto...

Barbara Kingsolver, Hernan Diaz share fiction Pulitzer Prize

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to two class-conscious novels: “Demon Copperhead,” Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic “David Copperfield,” and Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. Beverly Gage’s “G-Man,” her widely acclaimed book on longtime FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover, was given the Pulitzer for biography. “ His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, won for general nonfiction. Sanaz Toossi’s play “English” won for drama and Jefferson Cowie’s “Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power” was honored for history. The Pulitzer board hailed “English” as “a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a ne...

AP and Alabama’s AL.com win 2 Pulitzer Prizes each

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism Monday, in public service and breaking news photography, for coverage of the Ukraine War that included startling images of Russia’s siege of Mariupol.The New York Times was also honored with an international reporting award for its coverage of Russian killings in the Ukranian town of Bucha. Additional Pulitzers were given for work surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion standard, the government’s policy of child separation at the border, and welfare spending in Mississippi.AL.com, of Birmingham, Alabama, won two Pulitzers, in local reporting and commentary. The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and the Washington Post also won two awards each.For its public service award, the Pulitzers cited the work of AP’s videojournalist Mstyslav Chernov, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, video producer Vasilisa Stepanenko and reporter Lori Hinnant. For nearly three weeks, AP h...

In West Virginia, police exhume body of suspect in 1975 murder of Montreal teenager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

MONTREAL — Police in a Montreal suburb confirmed Monday they have identified a suspect in a murder that has gone unsolved since a 16-year-old girl disappeared after setting out one evening to meet friends nearly 50 years ago.DNA evidence that surfaced in June led cold-case investigators to suspect Franklin Maywood Romine in the 1975 rape and killing of Sharron Prior. The body of Romine, who died in 1982, was exhumed from a West Virginia cemetery last week and is undergoing DNA testing.Sgt. Francis Charette of the Longueuil, Que., police force said investigators have found other clues linking Romine to the crime. “Mr. Romine was present in Canada, more specifically, in Montreal, in 1975 at the time of the events,” Charette said in an interview Monday. “Mr. Romine also lived near the scene of the abduction and had knowledge of the place where the body of Ms. Prior was discovered following the murder.”Romine, who died in Montreal but was buried in his home state...

Lori Lightfoot bids farewell as Chicago Mayoral tenure comes to a close

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to give a farewell speech to the city Monday as Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson prepares to officially take office on May 15.Lightfoot is set to deliver her remarks at 3 p.m. from the Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development, or BUILD, headquarters in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. The organization is a "nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization," according to their website.This will be one of the final public events of her time as mayor, which began in 2019 when she became the first openly gay, Black female mayor of the City of Chicago. Though Lightfoot ran for reelection, she lost her bid for a second term when she failed to get enough votes to make it into the city's April 2023 run-off election. Denied reelection, what’s ousted Lightfoot’s legacy? Johnson's inauguration will take place next Monday at Credit Union 1 Arena, making him Chicago's 57th mayor.WGN plans to livest...

Christopher Morel is back with the Cubs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

CHICAGO — After a rookie season in which he showed promise, one of the best young players on the Cubs will get to start his second campaign with the team on Monday.Welcome Back!.The Cubs have called up Christopher Morel from Triple-A Iowa as he joins the major league club for the first time in 2023..Nelson Velazquez was sent to Triple-A Iowa as part of the roster move..@WGNNews pic.twitter.com/adZSxX3QNc— Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) May 8, 2023Christopher Morel, who has gotten off to a strong start to 2023 in the minors, is being called up by the major league team ahead of the start of a three-game series against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.This will be the outfielder's first time with the team this season as he joined Triple-A Iowa after the conclusion of spring training. Morel's call-up is the second major promotion for the team in less than a week after calling up first baseman Matt Mervis last Friday. Outfieder Nelson Velazquez was sent down as part of the move.In 29 g...

Family loses toy elephant with son's ashes during Disney World vacation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A family says they are in desperate need of help after losing their precious toy elephant while visiting Disney World last week.On Saturday, Iowa resident Liz Atkinson made a post on Facebook asking for help after losing a stuffed elephant that once belonged to her late son Gabryel.Pictured here: Sebastyan Atkinson carries the stuffed elephant that once belonged to his late brother Gabryel. His mother, Liz Atkinson, says they lost the toy while on a trip to Disney World. (Credit: Liz Atkinson)Atkinson said the elephant, named Bruce, was given to her son when he was in the NICU and was with him for over 50 surgical procedures that were done to save his life. Unfortunately, Gabryel did not survive."He slept with it every night and since his passing my husband and I have had it in our bed with us," Atkinson said.To honor their son's memory, the Atkinson family took their surviving son, Sebastyan, to Disney World on Gabryel's birthday. Active field search ends for...

Man who disappeared in California after texting 911 is found dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

(NewsNation) — A man who has been missing since 2021 after an Uber dropped him off has been found dead in Santa Monica, California.Beau Mann was last seen at a 7-11 in Los Angeles. An Uber picked him up from the store and then dropped him off in Santa Monica on Nov. 30, 2021. A text to 911 was the last anyone heard from Mann. A Facebook page set up to help search for the missing 39-year-old announced his remains were found "in a grassy area" about a mile from where he was dropped off.There were no details on the circumstances that led up to Mann's death. Mann's remains were found in the courtyard of an abandoned property on Santa Monica Boulevard, according to a police statement. The remains were identified using dental records and have been turned over to the Los Angeles County coroner to determine the cause of death. Texas mall shooting: Suspect identified as 33-year-old man His family believes foul play was involved in his disappearance, pointing to the fact that he bought a ba...

LIVE: Latest TxTag contractor penalized millions, but driver complaints persist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Auto-payment issues, double billing, incorrect statements and customer service runaround — those are just some of the complaints KXAN has received, by the hundreds, from Texas Department of Transportation toll road and TxTag users.KXAN has uncovered TxDOT toll system problems for nearly a decade. During that time, the state agency has repeatedly vowed improvement.In this latest investigative effort, KXAN dedicated more than two dozen journalists to hold TxDOT officials accountable, fight for public records, catalog hundreds of tips and complaints, and sift through thousands of pages of vendor contracts. When TxDOT wouldn’t schedule an interview, we attended public meetings to question the agency’s top brass. One regional toll authority finds success in focusing on its customers. Explore» -->Despite years dealing with vendor hiccups and software glitches, TxDOT officials now say they’re seeing big improvements to TxTag and their toll road system — a system that imp...

Metro Transit breaks ground on the B Line from downtown St. Paul to Uptown Minneapolis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

Metro Transit held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday for the B Line, a bus rapid transit route that will soon link Uptown in Minneapolis to the Union Depot transit hub in downtown St. Paul.Construction on stations and improvements east of Hiawatha Avenue are expected to get underway this spring, followed by stations west of Hiawatha Avenue a year from now. Service, which will largely replace the Route 21 corridor, the state’s busiest local bus route, is scheduled to roll out in late 2024.The goal is to improve travel times on the 11-mile corridor by up to 20% through bus-only lanes, transit signal priority, all-door boarding and advance or off-board fare payments.The groundbreaking, attended by U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and the St. Paul and Minneapolis mayors, among other dignitaries, was held at 2701 27th Ave. South in Minneapolis, a Lake Street stop served by the Route 21 and multiple bus routes located within walking distance of the Blue Line.