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Missouri lawmakers ban transgender care, athletics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers approved significant restrictions on transgender people on Wednesday, sending the Republican governor for his signature measures that would ban gender-affirming health care and prevent transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams.Transgender minors in Missouri no longer would have access to puberty blockers, hormones or gender-affirming surgery under legislation passed by the Republican-led legislature Wednesday. The ban also affects some adults — Medicaid health care won’t cover any gender-affirming care in the state, and surgery will no longer be available to prisoners and inmates.The ban on participating in female sports teams would apply from kindergarten through college, both at public and private schools. Both measures would expire in 2027.Gov. Mike Parson threatened to keep lawmakers working beyond the normal end of their session if they didn’t approve the gender-affirming care ban, which would take effect...

Disney board banned X-rated stores and liquor shops from property, overlooking prisons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Before allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis took over, Disney World’s governing district, which at the time was controlled by Disney supporters, reached an agreement in February with the company to prohibit a long list of businesses from ever being operated on its property.Forbidden establishments included tattoo parlors, liquor stores, adult entertainment, oil refineries and trailer parks. But they didn’t include prisons, which the Florida governor recently mused could be built there, when talking in a trolling tone about his year-long feud with the entertainment giant.“What should we do with this land? And so, you know, it’s like, OK, kids — I mean, people have said, you know, maybe have another — maybe create a state park. Maybe try to do more amusement parks. Someone even said, like, maybe you need another state prison,” DeSantis said last month. “Who knows? I mean, I just think that the possibilities are endless.”The agreement, which the DeSantis allies ...

Ohio House vote could send constitutional overhaul to voters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A single legislative vote is all that stands now between a proposal aimed at making it tougher to amend Ohio’s constitution and a statewide vote.The politically fractured Ohio House has scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution that would ask voters to decide whether to raise the threshold for passing future amendments from the simple majority in place since 1912 to a 60% supermajority.Backers’ immediate goal is to thwart a constitutional amendment headed toward November ballots that would enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s founding document.Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing abortion rights last year, other states’ amendments involving the procedure have shown voter support for legal access to abortion is between 50% and 60%, whether in conservative Kansas, Democratic-leaning Michigan or Republican-leaning Kentucky. But no vote has exceeded 60%.AP VoteCast polling last year found 59% of...

No mother on Mother’s Day: Daughters without moms find support in each other’s grief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

When my mother died suddenly 30 years ago, I was 13. I’d spend the next 20 years attempting to understand what it means not to have a mother. And I did this basically alone.Mostly, this was because my mother’s parents, who raised me, were old-fashioned folks who lived through the Dust Bowl. They didn’t discuss feelings, good or bad. I never once saw my grandfather shed a tear after his daughter died. Plus, our town was in the rural plains of Colorado, hours away from any city with services like a grief therapist, even if my grandparents had been open to that.But the silence around grief also was a product of the times. I am encouraged to see that now a mom’s death is generally not handled the same way it was in 1993.There are many kinds of support today, from the organized to the grassroots. Grief can be talked about and shared more publicly, experts say, and is acknowledged to last a long time. Motherless children can attend special summer camps, for instance, or Mother...

Death toll rises to 5 in gun attack near synagogue on Tunisian island of Djerba

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The death toll from a synagogue gun attack on the Tunisian island of Djerba during an annual Jewish pilgrimage has risen to five, Tunisia’s TAP news agency said Wednesday. The victims of Tuesday’s bloodshed were two Jewish pilgrims and three Tunisian police guards. Tunisian authorities opened an investigation into the attack, and it wasn’t known if the Jewish pilgrims were specifically targeted.A police guard who had been hospitalized in the immediate aftermath died from his wounds on Wednesday, according to a medical official cited by TAP, while four other members of the security forces remain hospitalized in Djerba, including one who is in critical condition.Israeli and Tunisian authorities and family members identified the civilian victims as cousins: Aviel Haddad, 30, who held dual Tunisian and Israeli citizenship, and Benjamin Haddad, 42, who was French.Four civilians were also wounded, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said. The attacker was slain by s...

AP source: Vice President Kamala Harris postpones MTV event due to Hollywood writers’ strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Hollywood writers’ strike that’s snarling the television and movie industries has now scrambled the White House schedule. An MTV special on mental health that was expected to feature Vice President Kamala Harris next week has been postponed, according to her office.A person familiar with the decision said Harris chose not to travel to the Los Angeles-area event because that would have been seen as crossing the picket line. That’s a political nonstarter for Democrats who rely on union support. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about the decision to postpone MTV’s Mental Health Action Day Conversation.President Joe Biden called for a “fair deal” for writers at a White House movie screening this week. “Nights like these are a reminder of stories and the importance of treating storytellers with the dignity, respect and the value they deserve,” Biden said. “I sincerely hope the writers ...

Poland reverts to historic name for Russia’s Kaliningrad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is reverting to using its historical name for Kaliningrad, the Russian city and administrative region that sits on its border. From now on, it will be designated on Polish maps as Krolewiec, based on the recommendation of the government commission for geographic names abroad. The Kremlin has reacted angrily: spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called it a “process bordering on insanity,” going beyond Russophobia.The city, formerly known as Koenigsberg, was ceded from Germany to the Soviet Union after the Second World War. In 1946 it was renamed Kaliningrad, after Mikhail Kalinin, one of the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution. The Polish authorities point out that Kalinin was one of six Soviet officials who ordered the execution of more than 21,000 Polish prisoners of war at Katyn and elsewhere in 1940. They said the current name was artificial, lacking any connection to the city or the region, but the centuries-old name of Krolewiec was part of Poland’s cultural...

Is Becky Hammon the best candidate to be the Toronto Raptors’ new head coach?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

The phrase ‘winning the press conference’ is a kind of multi-purpose slight: it diminishes the people holding the press conference and the subject of it also.It speaks to bells and whistles, sizzle without steak, style over substance and whatever metaphor you might what to choose when it comes to hype trains running downhill, no brakes.Had it been their goal, the Toronto Raptors could have conceivably knocked the proverbial press conference out of the park had they chosen this week to announce that WNBA legend Becky Hammon as their next head coach.Imagine: just as the WNBA gets set to hold the first exhibition game in Canada at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, one of the most female-forward organizations in sports introduces a trailblazer in a critical role, crossing a barrier that seemed insurmountable even a few years ago.Even in the ever more cluttered space of sports, media, and entertainment, you would have to think it would be a breakthrough moment for the Raptors, wo...

Celebrity bidding war for Ottawa Senators could be a boon for the franchise: experts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

A celebrity bidding war for a minority ownership stake in the NHL’s Ottawa Senators stands to lift the team’s profile to new heights, while serving as a safe way for stars to park their money.Experts say that while some hockey fans may be surprised to see names such as Ryan Reynolds, Snoop Dogg and reportedly The Weeknd throw their hats into the ring, the opportunity to own one of just 32 NHL teams doesn’t come around often.Associate professor of sport management at Brock University Michael Naraine says having one of the celebrities involved in the Senators would give the eastern Ontario franchise new exposure in non-traditional markets.Reynolds, who has been attached to a bid worth more than US$1 billion led by real estate developer Remington Group, has expressed interest in creating a television series about the team similar to his production company’s hit reality show, “Welcome to Wrexham,” about the Welsh soccer team the actor co-owns.The board of directo...

4 charged with murder of CPD officer Aréanah Preston

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Three men and a juvenile have been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 24-year-old Chicago police officer Aréanah Preston.Trevor Breeland, 19, Joseph Brooks, 19, Jaquan Bucannon, 18, and a 16-year-old have all been charged with first-degree murder. CPD said the 16-year-old will be tried as an adult.Interim Supt. Eric Carter said the group was responsible for several robberies and motor vehicle thefts prior to the shooting."She was a beloved daughter, sister and friend who wanted to make a difference in this world," Carter said during a Wednesday morning news conference.On early Saturday morning, Preston had just returned from a shift in the 5th District when she was shot in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue at around 1:42 a.m. According an analysis of police radio traffic and sources, she was found at around 2:15 a.m. by a traffic officer. At the time of the shooting, authorities were made aware of a ShotSpotter alert.At around 2:02 a.m., Preston's A...