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New Jersey Supreme Court backs school that fired teacher over premarital sex

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

(The Hill) - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week in favor of a Roman Catholic school in a case involving employment discrimination allegations from an unmarried employee who was terminated after she became pregnant. Victoria Crisitello filed a complaint against the St. Theresa School alleging discrimination based on pregnancy and marital status. The school claimed, however, that the termination was because Crisitello, in having premarital sex, violated the terms of her employment agreement, which stipulated that employees must abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church. In its decision on Monday, the state Supreme Court held that St. Theresa School validly asserted the “religious tenets” exception as an affirmative defense, which allows religious entities to make hiring decisions based on criteria established using tenets of their faith, and therefore did not violate New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. “The religious tenets exception allowed St. There...

For Happ, vision of Wrigley Field comes to life through partnership with artist

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Not long after Ian Happ got called up to the majors in 2017 by the Chicago Cubs, a boyhood dream realized with a storied franchise coming off a historic championship run, he was looking for pictures to hang in his apartment.From that simple desire came a vivid vision and one unlikely partnership with an English artist who made it come to life. Happ wanted to show Wrigley Field from a different viewpoint.“I had this experience over and over with bringing people down on the field,” he said. “They’d been to 20, 50, 100 games at Wrigley, but never been on the field. And everybody would have the same experience of looking back up just in awe from seeing it from from down low. And I thought that was such a cool experience that if I could bring that to more Cubs fans, more people, it would make the project really special.”Happ's view of Wrigley Field is on display at a Chicago art gallery — also where he got engaged last year — for a few more weeks as part of a series of dra...

52 arrests made statewide since Texas 'street takeover' task force began

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety continue to investigate a July "street takeover" event that landed three people in the hospital, KXAN has learned more about the scope of these investigations across the state. In February, DPS - in conjunction with several local agencies - launched the Street Takeover Task Force, following a takeover event that resulted in dozens of criminal charges. Operation Burnout: 17 more charged in February ‘street takeover’ investigation On the weekend of Feb. 18, cars doing donuts and driving recklessly blocked off the intersection of South Lamar Boulevard and Barton Springs Road. Austin Police said it was investigating several street takeover incidents from the night of Feb. 18, 2023. (Screenshot from video courtesy of S. Joseph) The latest similar event occurred on July 29. That night, troopers assisted APD with a call around 9:30 p.m. for about 100 vehicles in the parking lot of the Target at 86...

Central Texas housing market continues cooling trend in latest ABoR report

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Central Texas housing market has continued its cooling trend, according to the new report from the Austin Board of Realtors.The report said the median family income in the area was $122,000, which would mean buyers could generally afford a home between $300,000 to $400,000.However, less than 40% of homes sold in the Austin-Round Rock area in July fell into that price range.According to the July report, the City of Austin’s current median price for a home was $550,000, which was down 12% compared to last year.

An appeals court backs some abortion drug limits, pending the Supreme Court's approval

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mail-order access to a drug used in the most common form of abortion in the U.S. would end under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday that cannot take effect until the Supreme Court weighs in.The decision by three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned part of a lower court ruling that would have revoked the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone. But it left intact part of the ruling that would end the availability of the drug by mail, allow it to be used through only the seventh week of pregnancy rather than the 10th, and require that it be administered in the presence of a physician. Those restrictions won’t take effect right away because the Supreme Court previously intervened to keep the drug available during the legal fight. The panel’s ruling would reverse changes the FDA made in 2016 and 2021 that eased some conditions for administering the drug.“In loosening mifepristone’s safety r...

Yankees Notebook: With ‘no time to waste,’ how are Bombers balancing Judge’s toe with putting out their best lineup?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

ATLANTA — Aaron Judge’s toe is not fully healed, but that hasn’t stopped him from playing the outfield.Prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Braves, Judge had played right field in three of the Yankees’ last four games. Following Tuesday’s 5-0 loss, he suggested that playing the outfield gives his last-place, .500 team the best chance to win with 42 games left in the season.“There’s no time to waste,” Judge said when asked if his recent outfield play meant his toe is feeling better. “We gotta try to put the best lineup out there every single day. So if that’s me playing outfield, we gotta do it. We’re running out of time, so yeah, I gotta be out there.”But Wednesday’s lineup had Judge filling the designated hitter role and Giancarlo Stanton in right field, as Aaron Boone still has to balance the slugger’s health with the Yankees’ unfavorable circumstances.Boone said that even as ...

Western Wisconsin football: River Falls is young, inexperienced and ready to build off recent success

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

Five sophomores are expected to see significant action when River Falls opens its 2023 high school football season at home Thursday against Wisconsin Rapids.That’s the most 10th-grade participation Wildcats coach Ryan Scherz can recall since 2017, when the current staff took over the program. That’s partially a product of the quality of the program’s young talent. This year’s senior class is also unusually small. The offensive line endured a heavy reconstruction.Take all those factors into consideration, and it would be more than acceptable to call this fall a rebuilding one for more programs. That simply is not the case in River Falls.River Falls senior quarterback Jacob Range throws a pass during prep football practice on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. The Wildcats are looking to build off a 10-win season from a year ago. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)The Western Wisconsin juggernaut — a word that would have been an antonym for the Wildcats as recently as five years ago — no longer d...

Vikings, Titans get meaningful work done at joint practice despite some chippiness

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

Maybe veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks didn’t mean anything by it.Talking to reporters about the Vikings hosting the Tennessee Titans for a pair of joint practices at TCO Performance Center this week, Hicks provided the typical cliche about how nice it was to compete against somebody else. He followed up that response with what some might consider a veiled shot when asked if Day 1 of joint practices was respectful.“It was,” Hicks said. “At least on our side.”In the same breath, Hicks credited the Vikings and Titans with ultimately keeping it clean amid the competitiveness, which allowed both teams to get meaningful work done. That’s exactly what Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and Titans head coach Mike Vrabel were looking for when they scheduled the joint practices in the lead-up to Saturday’s preseason game between the two teams.“I think we’ve been getting a lot of really good work in against ourselves,” Vrabel sa...

New charges against 'ChiefsAholic' in string of bank robberies, money laundering

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – More charges are coming in for the 29-year-old Chiefs fan known as "ChiefsAholic."Xaviar Michael Babudar was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for multiple bank robberies and money laundering the proceeds through area casinos. Babudar was charged in a 19-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City.Wednesday’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Babudar on May 24 and includes additional charges, according to the Department of Justice. Court documents say Babudar, who lived a nomadic existence at various locations around the Kansas City area, was known on social media as Kansas City Chiefs superfan Twitter user @ChiefsAholic, attending most games dressed as a wolf in Chiefs gear. According to the indictment, Babudar perpetrated a string of bank and credit union robberies throughout 2022 to attend Chiefs games.Investigators say Babudar laundered money he robbed through area casinos, attending Chiefs ho...

Freshmen 'Move-In Day' at SIUE

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:20:22 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – It’s a big day at the campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. More than a thousand first-year students arrive on Wednesday and Thursday, and returning students make their way back to campus living on Friday.“Our first-year students live in three communities,” said SIUE Director of Housing Mallory Sidarous. “That’s Bluff, Prairie, and Woodland Hall. They are the same as far as layout and structure, so that makes it easy for students. And we do have general assignment or focused-interest communities, so they could be living with folks in the same major as them or general assignment.”Bluff Hall was a beehive of activity Wednesday afternoon as first-year students and families tried to get settled in for all that awaits when classes begin Monday.“Went to the check in and saw my friend from school; that was exciting,” said Erin Mansfield, a freshman nursing student. “We got in here and had two girls help us out; put all our stuff in. Got it all done in an...