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Support for Israel becomes a top issue for Iowa evangelicals key to the first Republican caucuses

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Steve Rowland peered beneath the brim of his baseball cap and admonished the roughly 500 people at Rising Sun Church of Christ in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona.It had been three days since Hamas attacked Israel and killed hundreds of civilians. In Iowa, where evangelical Christians dominate the first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucuses, Rowland and other pastors are delivering a message meant to resonate both biblically and politically.“What we’re seeing in that region is pure evil,” Rowland said. “Israel has mobilized their army and they are intent on stamping out evil, and we should be behind them. That’s where we should be, and I want you to know that, as a pastor.” Support for Israel has leapt to a top priority for evangelicals in the leadoff Republican presidential caucuses now less than three months away, according to interviews with more than a dozen Iowa conservative activists. While curbing abortion has for decades energized Chr...

Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

In some states, higher-income families can now use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition — and more people than projected are taking the offer, which might force scrambles to shore up state budgets.It’s especially an issue in states like Arizona and Iowa, where at least some families whose children were already in private school can now take advantage of public funding.“It busts the budget because it’s taking on as a public expense what’s previously been a private cost,” said Josh Cowen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University.Advocates for school choice pitch vouchers as a way to give students in low-performing schools a way out – and, increasingly, to give parents control over what their children are taught.Programs funded through vouchers, tax credits or scholarships have been around since the 1990s and are now available in the majority of states. Whether students who change schools with the use of taxpayer money achieve better educational ...

Mike Johnson is the latest GOP nominee for House speaker as Republican infighting shows no end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker desperate to unite their fractious majority and end the chaos, just hours after an earlier pick abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from Donald Trump. Johnson of Louisiana, a lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, becomes the fourth Republican nominee in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. When the House convenes at noon Wednesday ahead of a floor vote, Johnson, who won the majority behind closed doors, will need almost all Republicans in the public roll call to win the gavel. “Mike! Mike! Mike!” lawmakers chanted at a press conference late Tuesday night, surrounding Johnson and posing for selfies in a show of support.Three weeks on, the Republicans have been frittering away their majority status — a maddening embarrassment to some, democracy in action to others, but not...

Hungary hosts international training for military divers who salvage unexploded munitions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Soldiers from across Europe suited up in heavy diving equipment inside a cavernous flooded stone quarry deep beneath the Hungarian capital. Once their air tanks, flippers and waterproof diving suits were secured, they slipped beneath the cold water and, flashlights in hand, disappeared into the darkness. The military divers from Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Lithuania were participating in an international training exercise in Budapest to prepare them for a variety of scenarios: recovery operations after a boat accident, rescues during a catastrophic flood, or the removal of unexploded underwater ordnance following an armed conflict. “The most important thing is to strengthen our capabilities and work together internationally, underwater, and to know each other’s equipment, techniques and procedures,” said Maj. Csaba Horvath, the chief of the training exercise from the Hungarian Defense Forces 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Riverine Guard Regiment. “Tha...

Boston councilmember wants hearing to consider renaming Faneuil Hall due to slavery ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s City Council on Wednesday is expected to debate whether to hold a hearing on renaming Faneuil Hall, a popular tourist site that is named after a wealthy merchant who owned and traded slaves.In calling for the hearing, Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson has filed a resolution decrying the building’s namesake, Peter Faneuil, as a “white supremacist, a slave trader, and a slave owner who contributed nothing recognizable to the ideal of democracy.”The push is part of a larger discussion on forms of atonement to Black Bostonians for the city’s role in slavery and its legacy of inequality.The downtown meeting house was built for the city by Faneuil in 1742 and was where Samuel Adams and other American colonists made some of the earliest speeches urging independence from Britain.“It is important that we hold a hearing on changing the name of this building because the name disrespects Black people in the city and across the nation,” Pastor Valerie Copeland...

Russia maneuvers carefully over the Israel-Hamas war as it seeks to expand its global clout

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

Russia has issued carefully calibrated criticism of both sides in the war between Israel and Hamas. But the conflict also is giving Moscow bold new opportunities — to advance its role as a global power broker and challenge Western efforts to isolate it over Ukraine.While Moscow lacks leverage to mediate a settlement in the Middle East, it could try to play on some perceived credibility problems with the West’s response to the crisis.It also expects the Israel-Hamas war to distract attention from the fighting in Ukraine and erode support for Kyiv.There are risks for Moscow, however. It could damage its relationship with Israel, which until now has kept it from sending weapons to Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on towns in southern Israel. At the same time, he warned Israel against blockading the Gaza Strip, likening it to Nazi Germany’s siege of Leningrad during World War II.He has cast the war as a failure of U....

Honolulu tells story of healers with dual male and female spirit through new plaque in Waikiki

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu officials on Tuesday introduced a new interpretive plaque for four large boulders in the center of Waikiki that honor Tahitian healers of dual male and female spirit who visited Oahu some 500 years ago. The centuries-old boulders — one for each of the four visiting healers — are protected by an iron fence in a beachside park surrounded by hotels and shops in the heart of the world-renowned tourist district. The monument is known as the stones of Kapaemahu, after the group’s leader.According to stories handed down orally, the boulders were placed on Waikiki’s shore at the time of the healers’ visit. But the stones became neglected more recently. In 1941, a bowling alley was even built over them and remained there for two decades.The earlier plaque dates to 1997. It doesn’t acknowledge the healers were “mahu,” which in Hawaiian language and culture refers to someone with dual male and female spirit and a mixture of gender traits.Scholar...

California Gov. Newsom has rare friendly exchange with China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom met with China’s seniormost diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday and displayed a brief moment of friendliness that stands in sharp contrast to the dialogue between the U.S. and China in recent years.The governor is on a weeklong tour of China where he will push for climate cooperation. Newsom’s trip as governor, once considered routine, is drawing attention as it comes after years of heightening tensions between the U.S. and China.“I’m here in expectation, as you suggest, of turning the page, of renewing our friendship and reengaging (on) foundational and fundamental issues that will determine our collective faith in the future,” Newsom said in brief opening remarks ahead of his meeting with Wang.Newsom is visiting Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. At a speech at Hong Kong University on Monday, he promised to continue to cooperate on climate change regardless of the outcome of the next U.S. presi...

Albany Police arrest a 17-year-old for allegedly menacing with a handgun

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A 17-year-old was arrested on Monday afternoon for allegedly menacing an individual with a handgun. Albany Police say they received a report of an armed individual at a residence on South Pearl Street at around 1:15 p.m. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Officers located a 19-year-old who said he was menaced with a handgun. The suspect was identified and taken into custody. No one was injured during the incident.Detectives from the Children and Family Service Unit executed a search warrant and seized a loaded 9mm handgun. The suspect was arraigned in Albany County Family Court for criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of a firearm, and menacing in the second degree.

Bryce Harper and the Phillies’ big bats go quiet in NLCS, dumped by Diamondbacks in Game 7

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:21 GMT

By DAN GELSTON (AP Sports Writer)PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Trea Turner had the moment that could have pushed the Phillies toward the World Series waiting for him. The Phillies — with an electric offense grounded by strikeouts and puny at bats — put the tying runs on base against Arizona’s bullpen in the seventh inning.Here it was, Game 7, the first one in 141 years of Phillies history, and Turner simply needed to keep the rally going in a 4-2 game.The $300 million shortstop — whose middling season was rejuvenated by a manufactured standing ovation in August — flew out to center against reliever Kevin Ginkel.No worries. Bryce Harper was up. You know Bryce Harper, the master of the postseason stage?The two-time NL MVP who sent the Phillies to the World Series a year ago with a game-winning home run was in position to try and repeat the feat against Ginkel. The righty-against-lefty matchup seemed to favor Harper, who had two homers already in the NLCS, amo...