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Fire that indefinitely closed vital Los Angeles freeway was likely arson, governor says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Arson was the cause of a massive weekend fire that charred and indefinitely closed a vital section of a Los Angeles freeway, causing major traffic headaches for hundreds of thousands of commuters, California authorities said.Gov. Gavin Newsom said investigators were trying to determine if one person or more were involved. He gave no other details. “I have to stress that we have determined what started the fire,” Newsom told reporters Monday.The fire erupted Saturday in two storage lots under Interstate 10 where construction materials combusted quickly and the fire grew. It left many columns charred and chipped and the deck guardrails twisted. Crews shored up the most damaged section for the safety of workers clearing the debris. It’s still unclear what structural damage, if any, the blaze caused to the freeway. Beyond a massive traffic headache, the closure is expected to be felt well beyond the metropolis, including possibly slowing the transport of goods from th...

Defense to call witnesses in trial of man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband with hammer

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Defense attorneys for David DePape, the man on trial for the attack of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the couple’s San Francisco home, will call witnesses Tuesday as they argue DePape is not guilty of the crimes he’s been charged with. The trial’s third day will start with a final witness from the prosecution, and defense attorneys say they hope to wrap up their case by day’s end. The case would then go to jurors.Prosecutors say DePape bludgeoned Paul Pelosi in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, just days before the midterm elections, and that he had rope and zip ties with him. DePape has pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties.Defense attorney Jodi Linker told jurors last week that she won’t dispute that DePape attacked Pelosi. Instead, she will a...

Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church begins historic trip to Hong Kong

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — The head of the Catholic church in China began a trip to Hong Kong on Tuesday at the invitation of the city’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, marking the first official visit by a Beijing bishop in history. Joseph Li, who was installed by China’s state-controlled Catholic church as an archbishop, visited the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the morning, public broadcaster RTHK said. Li’s five-day tour came after the city’s newly installed Cardinal Stephen Chow invited him to visit Hong Kong during a landmark trip to Beijing in April — the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city’s bishop in nearly three decades. Experts said the invitation was a symbolic gesture that could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.Earlier this month, Chow said his job is to foster better communication between the sides, and underscored the importance of human connections when asked about the significance of Li’s visit. The Hong Kong dio...

A missing sailor’s last message from Hurricane Otis was to ask his family to pray for him

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — During the first minutes of Oct. 25 when Hurricane Otis roared into Acapulco Bay with 165 mph winds, sailor Ruben Torres recorded a 10-second audio message from a yacht called the Sereno.“All things considered I’m alright, but it’s really horrible, it’s really horrible, it’s really horrible,” he said over the howling wind and the boat’s beeping alarms. “Family, I don’t want to exaggerate, but pray for us because it’s really awful out here.”The Sereno was one of 614 boats — yachts, ferries, fishing boats — that according to Mexico’s Navy were in the bay that night and ended up damaged or on the ocean floor. Of those aboard the Sereno, one person survived, while Torres and the boat’s captain remain missing.Otis killed at least 48 people officially, most drowned, and some 26 are missing. Sailors, fishermen and their families believe there are many more. Sailors in the region typically board their boats during a storm rather than stay on land where th...

Biden administration slow to act as millions are booted off Medicaid, advocates say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 30 million of the poorest Americans could be purged from the Medicaid program, many the result of error-ridden state reviews that poverty experts say the Biden administration is not doing enough to stop. The projections from the health consulting firm Avalere come as states undertake a sweeping re-evaluation of the 94 million people enrolled in Medicaid, government’s health insurance for the neediest Americans. A host of problems have surfaced across the country, including hours-long phone wait times in Florida, confusing government forms in Arkansas, and children wrongly dropped from coverage in Texas. “Those people were destined to fail,” said Trevor Hawkins, an attorney for Legal Aid of Arkansas. Hawkins helped hundreds of people navigate their Medicaid eligibility in Arkansas, as state officials worked to “ swiftly disenroll ” about 420,000 people in six months’ time. He raised problems with Arkansas’ process — like forms that wrongly told people th...

A former Fox News reporter who is refusing to divulge her sources could be held in contempt of court

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a case with potentially far-reaching press freedom implications, a federal judge in Washington is weighing whether to hold in contempt a veteran journalist who has refused to identify her sources for stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.The judge previously ordered former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge to be interviewed under oath about her sources for a series of stories about Yanping Chen, who was investigated for years on suspicions she may have lied on immigration forms related to work on a Chinese astronaut program. Chen has sued the government, saying details about the probe were leaked to damage her reputation.But after Herridge refused to divulge to Chen’s lawyers how she acquired her information, the scientist’s attorneys are asking U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to hold the reporter in contempt — a sanction that could result in steep monetary fines until she complies.The long-running...

Democrats adjourning Michigan Legislature to ensure new presidential primary date

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democrats who were passing legislation at a historic pace will abruptly end their session Tuesday as they grapple with internal divisions and a temporarily deadlocked state House. Lawmakers are adjourning nearly a month early and delaying key legislation until next year to ensure that new legislation will take effect making Michigan the fifth state to hold its presidential primary on Feb. 27.The decision to end early also comes after two Democratic state representatives won mayoral races, erasing the House’s slim Democratic majority. The chamber is split 54-54 until special elections can be held in several months.Michigan Democrats had worked at a record pace at the start of the year after regaining full control of the Legislature while already holding the governor’s mansion last year for the first time since 1983. They passed a number of pent-up policy priorities, such as a gun safety package and increased protections for LGBTQ+ people and abort...

Wisconsin state Senate to vote on downsized Milwaukee Brewers stadium repair bill

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin state Senate is poised to approve a plan to spend more than half a billion dollars of public funds to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their stadium over the next three decades.The Senate is expected to vote on the proposal during a floor session set to begin Tuesday morning. As of last week, Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu was still trying to lock down enough votes to push the package. At least three GOP members, Julian Bradley, Steve Nass and Van Wanggaard, have said they oppose the bill and Sen. LaTonya Johnson has said she’s the only Milwaukee Democrat who supports the package. But legislative leaders typically don’t schedule bills for floor votes unless they’re certain of passage, signaling LeMahieu has mustered up 17 votes between the two parties. Approval would send the package to the Assembly. Speaker Robin Vos has signaled his support. Assembly passage would put the bill in front of Gov. Tony Evers, who can sign it i...

At summit, Biden aims to show he can focus on Pacific amid crises in Ukraine, Mideast and Washington

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden is looking to use this week’s summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to show world leaders the United States has the gumption, attention span and money to focus on the region even as it grapples with a multitude of foreign and domestic policy crises.Biden’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday is the main event of his four-day visit to San Francisco, where leaders from the 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are gathering for their annual summit. The talks with Xi are of enormous importance as the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies try to find a measure of stability after what’s been a difficult year for U.S.-China relations.But the White House also wants to demonstrate to APEC’s leaders that Biden can remain focused on the Pacific while also trying to keep the Israel-Hamas war from exploding into a broader regional conflict and to persuade ...

Tourists find the Las Vegas Strip remade for its turn hosting Formula One

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:37:36 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The famous fountains at the Bellagio won’t be very visible this week amid the roar of Formula One racing on the Las Vegas Strip, and gondoliers won’t be serenading tourists at the Venetian resort.“Fountains have been shut off, canals drained, streets closed or harder to navigate,” Michael Green, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas history professor, said after six months of road work and temporary grandstand construction for some of the most monied spectators in sports. “What are they calling it? Stripmageddon? It is clearly causing a lot of uproar.”“But this is a different kind of big event,” said Green, who remembers two Grand Prix races held 42 years ago at Caesars Palace. “We’re talking about billionaires from around the world. They’re going to bring in a ton of money. They’re not necessarily the usual tourist.”Organizers, local officials and hotel operators believe the discomfort will be forgotten after racing ends late Saturday. They hope Las Vegas w...