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Health officials push to get schoolchildren vaccinated as more US parents opt out

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

By DEVI SHASTRI (AP Health Writer)When Idaho had a rare measles outbreak a few months ago, health officials scrambled to keep it from spreading. In the end, 10 people, all in one family, were infected, all unvaccinated.This time, the state was lucky, said the region’s medical director Dr. Perry Jansen. The family quickly quarantined and the children were already taught at home. The outbreak could have been worse if the kids were in public school, given the state’s low vaccination rates, he said.In Idaho last year, parents opted out of state-required vaccines for 12% of kids entering kindergarten, the highest rate in the nation.“We tend to forget that diseases like measles and polio used to kill people,” said Jansen, medical director of the Southwest District Health Department, which handled the outbreak in September.All states require children to have certain routine vaccines to go to public school, and often private school and day care, to prevent outbreaks...

Separatist leader in Pakistan appears before cameras and says he has surrendered with 70 followers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — The leader of the main insurgent group in southwestern Pakistan appeared before cameras on Wednesday to say he has surrendered to authorities with some 70 of his followers and is giving up his yearslong fight for independence. Sarfraz Bungulzai, who was previously known by his nom de guerre as Mureed Baluch, told reporters in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, that he feels remorse for the deadly attacks he and his Baluch National Army carried out against Pakistani security forces. The group, also known by its acronym as BNA, has been banned by the government in Islamabad.The development is a significant boost for Pakistan’s government, which has battled militants and insurgents of various groups across the country. Earlier this year, Pakistan top intelligence agency arrested another prominent BNA member — Gulzar Imam, also known by the name Shambay, the group’s founder.Speaking at a government-organized news conference, Bungulzai declared that he d...

Men who died in Oregon small plane crash were Afghan Air Force pilots who resettled as refugees

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three men who died in a small plane crash in Oregon were Afghan Air Force pilots who fought with the American military and came to the U.S. as refugees after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, according to groups that helped with their resettlement.Salem for Refugees said it resettled Mohammad Hussain Musawi, 35, Mohammad Bashir Safdari, 35, and Ali Jan Ferdawsi, 29, in the Salem area last spring. The nonprofit provides financial aid to newly arrived refugees and helps them find housing and employment, among other support services. It said it was devastated by their deaths.“In 2022, they sought refuge and new beginnings in Oregon, where their kindness, skills, and determination quickly touched the lives of those around them,” the group said on a GoFundMe page it created to help cover funeral expenses and support the pilots’ families.The men lost their lives Saturday when a small plane that was piloted by Musawi and carrying Safdari and Ferdawsi as i...

Indictment against high-ranking Hezbollah figure says he helped plan deadly 1994 Argentina bombing

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A high-ranking member of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization was charged with terrorism offenses, including the bombing of a building in Argentina in 1994 that killed 85 people, in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.Samuel Salman El Reda, 58, who remains at large and is believed to be in Lebanon, was described by federal authorities as the leader of terrorist activity carried out by Hezbollah since at least 1993.From 1993 to 2015, he conspired to support terrorists in Lebanon, Argentina, Panama, Thailand and elsewhere, the indictment said as it listed six aliases for El Reda, including “Salman Ramal,” “Sulayman Rammal,” “Salman Raouf Salman” and “Hajj.”He faces conspiracy charges and a count alleging he provided material support to a terrorist organization.Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a release that El Reda nearly three decades ago “helped plan and execute the heinous attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish community c...

Ryan Gosling reimagines his ‘Barbie’ power ballad ‘I’m Just Ken’ for Christmas, shares new EP

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — She’s Barbie. He’s just Ken. And now, it’s Christmas.On Wednesday, Ryan Gosling — the Ken to Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” in the film — released the “I’m Just Ken” EP alongside collaborators Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. It features the original Grammy-nominated, ‘80s-style power ballad from the movie, also titled “I’m Just Ken,” as well as three remixes: the stripped down “I’m Just Ken (In My Feelings Acoustic),” the dance floor ready “I’m Just Ken (Purple Disco Machine Remix),” and the festive “I’m Just Ken (Merry Kristmas Barbie).”The later was released with a n official music video, where Gosling, Wyatt and Ronson are seen working on the holiday remix of the song in a studio drenched in Christmas lights with an impressive live band, bantering with one another. At one point, a goofy Gosling puts on a pair of sunglasses to get into character, telling Ronson he’s doing so because “the world can have Ken’s voice but only Ba...

Florida suspect shoots at deputies before standoff at home which he set on fire, authorities say

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

DELTONA, Fla. (AP) — A deputy in Florida was grazed by a bullet Wednesday during a gunfight with a suspect who fled after being suspected of shoplifting cigarettes and then took part in an hours-long standoff before he was taken into custody, authorities said.The deputy who was shot at had non-life-threatening injuries, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on social media.The suspect was taken into custody Wednesday morning following about a four-hour standoff during which he set fire to his house in Deltona, Florida, located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Orlando, authorities said.A worker at a convenience store called deputies after witnessing the suspect stealing cigarettes. The suspect drove at deputies arriving at the store and then attempted to flee but was hindered by stop sticks a deputy had deployed. The suspect was able to drive to his home on a deflated tire, followed by deputies who commanded him to get out of his truck. When deputies a...

The Constitution’s insurrection clause threatens Trump’s campaign. Here is how that is playing out

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s bid to win back the White House is now threatened by two sentences added to the U.S. Constitution 155 years ago.The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday barred Trump from the state’s ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who swore an oath to support the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it from holding office. It’s the first time in history the provision has been used to prohibit someone from running for the presidency, and the U..S. Supreme Court is likely to have the final say over whether the ruling will stand.If it does — which many legal experts say is a longshot — it’s the end of Trump’s campaign because a Supreme Court decision would apply not just in Colorado, but to all states. It also could open a new world of political combat, as politicians in the future fish for judicial rulings to disqualify their rivals under the same provision.Some conservativ...

Slow-moving Pacific storm threatens California with flooding and mudslides

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A slow-moving Pacific storm could bring excessive rain and flooding to California on Wednesday, forecasters warned.The center of the low-pressure system was about 300 miles (483 kilometers) west of San Francisco during the early-morning hours and was expected to gradually move south along the coast, the National Weather Service said.The storm, which was likely to be more powerful than one that blew in earlier this week, was expected to finally jumpstart a laggard rainy season just a year after California was inundated by a flurry of atmospheric rivers that refilled reservoirs that had been emptied by a prolonged drought.Advisories for minor flooding were in effect for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area and around Monterey Bay. Near sunrise, forecasters issued a marine warning for waters off the central coast due to a severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts.The storm’s major impacts were expected later from the central coast south through Los ...

Oklahoma judge rules a man who wrongfully spent nearly 50 years in prison for murder is innocent

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge has exonerated a man who spent nearly 50 years in prison for murder, the longest serving inmate to be declared innocent of a crime. Glynn Simmons, 71, who was released in July after prosecutors agreed that key evidence in his case was not turned over to his defense lawyers, was ruled innocent Tuesday.“This court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the offense for which Mr. Simmons was convicted, sentenced and imprisoned… was not committed by Mr. Simmons,” according to the ruling by Oklahoma County District Judge Amy Palumbo.Simmons served 48 years, one month and 18 days since his conviction, making him the longest imprisoned U.S. inmate to be exonerated, according to data kept by The National Registry of Exonerations.Simmons said afterward that he feels vindicated after his time in prison that included initially being sentenced to death row.“It’s a lesson in resilience and tenacity,” Simmons said during a brief news conferen...

A 7th person in Tennessee has died due to tornado-producing storms

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:39 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A seventh person in Tennessee has died from injuries she suffered during a string of powerful storms earlier this month that whipped up destructive tornadoes, according to police.Penny Scroggins, a 78-year-old from Clarksville, died Saturday after she was hospitalized with injuries she sustained when the tornado ripped through the city on Dec. 9, said Clarksville Police Department spokesperson Scott Beaubien. Three others died due to the tornado as well, including a 10-year-old. Another three people died after a different tornado tore through the Madison section of Nashville later that day.Scroggins, who was born in Muncie, Indiana, was remembered as a wonderful mother and grandmother who was kind-hearted and never met a stranger.“She loved watching sports, working, and spending time with her family,” her obituary says. “Penny was loved by so many and her family will miss the way she lit up a room with her smile.”The tornado that hit Clarksville, ...