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Lucas: These nobodies are somebodies

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

Don’t get your nobodies mixed up.They are Rep. Mike Johnson and Rep. Dean Phillips.Johnson, 51, is the right-wing, Christian traditionalist Republican from Louisianna who was just elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.Phillips, 54, is the liberal Jewish Democrat from Minnesota who just announced that he is running for president against Joe Biden.Just two weeks ago nobody knew who they were. Maybe people still don’t.But now both formerly unknowns are in positions to make national news and affect national policy — Johnson by promoting a halt on federal spending and other conservative policies, and Phillips by embarrassing Joe Biden in the New Hampshire presidential primary and perhaps elsewhere.Johnson, a four-term member of the House, was elected Speaker last week, a job he never sought or hoped to get, after 22 days of wrangling among House Republicans following the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.Phillips, in his third term in the House, launched...

Could anyone wear his fame more comfortably than Henry Winkler?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

Christopher Borrelli | Chicago TribuneCHICAGO — Henry Winkler’s smile is the smile of an old friend seeing you for the first time in years, or a smile of sincere affection for an unexpected new friend, or a smile that nudges into a laugh. It’s a smile so warm and real that you hate yourself for wondering how any human can generate such feeling, a dozen times a day, for 50 years of public life.And yet, there was that smile again, at 8 in the morning, in suburban Rosemont.You see it in a hotel Starbucks, where Winkler commands a small crowd despite the hour; they stare in awe of him, as if a 12-point buck just wandered in. You see it over breakfast in a hotel restaurant, which, for Winkler, means a sip of coffee, a taste of food, then a stranger approaching cautiously to ask for a picture, telling him he was their entire childhood, again and again. You see it waiting for a table at the hostess counter.A long slender man in jogging clothes turned offhandedly and noticed Winkler and tur...

Deadly police shooting investigation underway in Escondido

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

Editors note: The correct address for the shooting investigation is in the 2550 block of East Valley Parkway.ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A police shooting investigation is underway in Escondido, the San Diego Police Department confirmed to FOX 5.Authorities were called to the 2500 block of East Valley Parkway around 7 a.m. Friday morning regarding an incident where an officer reportedly shot at a suspect. Around 11:45 a.m., SDPD confirmed homicide detectives were called to the scene to investigate the incident.No suspect information is available at this time. However, SDPD told FOX 5 at the scene that a body was taken away.No officers were reported to be injured in this incident.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Migrant encampments surge in Jacumba Hot Springs

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Migrant encampments have been developing along remote sections of the border wall, including in the unincorporated area of Jacumba Hot Springs.Federal agents scramble to detain those looking to surrender themselves for asylum processing. Dozens of men from India, China, Pakistan, and Turkey say they have paid cartel members to catch a lift to the outer sections of the border wall. Pack your bags: Southwest Airlines is offering new nonstop flights from San Diego Finding the last link, migrants simply walk around the edge into the U.S. and then surrender themselves to the first Border agents they find. “We don’t have human rights,” said Yoseff, a Kurdish man fleeing from political persecution in Turkey.There are portable bathrooms and a light system set up, but the government has not systemically provided food or water. From lowriders to hot rods, this weekends’ Bomb Fest will have it all Volunteers say they are baffled with the lack of support from the federal gove...

San Diego's guide to the Nov. 7 special elections

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The deadline to vote in the three ongoing special elections is less than a week away for voters across San Diego County.Registered voters in Chula Vista, the Fourth Supervisorial District, and two North County water districts will have the opportunity to cast ballots in the following elections until Nov. 7:Special runoff to fill the seat on the Board of Supervisors vacated by Nathan Fletcher for the remainder of the current term ending in January 2027.Special election to vote in a new Chula Vista city attorney for the remainder of the current term ending in December 2026.Special election with a ballot measure to approve the proposed separation of the Fallbrook Public Utilities and Rainbow Municipal Water Districts from the San Diego County Water Authority.More information on each election, including what to know about the candidates vying for the two positions and what the ballot measure would to do can be found below: Meet the candidates in the runoff for District 4 ...

East end power outage affecting thousands of customers: Toronto Hydro

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

Toronto Hydro says a power outage caused by damage to underground equipment is affecting a significant section of the city’s east end.The outage, affecting between 1,000 to 5,000 customers, has the following boundaries:From Danforth Avenue south to Gerrard Street EastFrom Broadview Avenue east to Carlaw Avenue.The outage is expected to last a few more hours. It’s not clear how the equipment was damaged. “Crews are onsite working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to customers,” Toronto Hydro said in a social media post.“The current estimated time of restoration is approximately 6:30 p.m. We understand how difficult it is to be without power for so long and appreciate everyone’s continued patience.”

Two more former Northwestern football players say they experienced racist treatment in early 2000s

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Two more former Northwestern University football players came forward Friday saying they experienced racist treatment during their time on the team in the early 2000s.Noah Herron and Rico Lamitte said Black players were pressured to conform to white norms and faced unfair punishments. They spoke at a news conference hosted by Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, a Chicago law firm representing more than 50 former Northwestern athletes. Attorney Patrick Salvi said Herron and Lamitte are not plaintiffs in any lawsuits “as of right now.”Herron, a star running back at Northwestern from 2000 to 2004 who played in the NFL, said Black players with braids and longer hair were told to cut it even though white players were allowed to wear their hair long.“Northwestern not only treated players of color differently than our white teammates, but they tried to conform us in our appearance to resemble white teammates — or what Northwestern would consider ‘the Wildcat Way,’” Herron said....

Qualification markers grow even tougher for next month’s 4th GOP presidential debate, in Alabama

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A fourth Republican presidential debate has been set for next month, with heightened polling requirements that could make the stage less crowded than before.In a memo sent to campaigns on Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the fourth debate would take place Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.To make the stage, candidates must garner at least 6% in two approved national polls, or 6% in one poll from two separate early-voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.According to the memo, first reported by The New York Times, participants also need to amass at least 80,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory, in 20 or more states.Candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to satisfy the requirements.The RNC has increased the necessary markers with each debate, an effort intended to winnow the once sprawling field. Meeting some of the qualifications h...

Puerto Rican ex-boxer Félix Verdejo sentenced to life in prison in the killing of his pregnant lover

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo received two life sentences on Friday after he was found guilty in the grisly killing of his 27-year-old pregnant lover.A federal judge sentenced Verdejo following emotional speeches by the family of Keishla Rodríguez, who was killed in April 2021.Verdejo had been found guilty in July of kidnapping that leads to a death and of causing the death of an unborn child. His attorney said Friday that he plans to appeal the sentencing.Many across Puerto Rico celebrated the outcome of the case.“This sentence should serve as a lesson for others,” Puerto Rico Police Commissioner Antonio López said. “It doesn’t matter how much fame, money or power you think you have. If you break the law, you will have to respond.”During the trial earlier this year, Luis Antonio Cádiz, a friend of Verdejo’s also charged in the case, said the former boxer had pressured Rodríguez to get an abortion. He also testified that the day Verdejo k...

Supreme Court rules mandatory minimum sentences for child luring are unconstitutional

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:48:49 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s top court has ruled that applying mandatory minimum sentences to the offence of child luring is unconstitutional.The Supreme Court of Canada found in a six-to-one decision released today that such sentences violate the Charter-protected right that guards against “cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.”A summary of the decision says the court ruled that mandatory minimum sentences for the offence of child luring apply to “an exceptionally wide scope of conduct” and can therefore lead to “grossly disproportionate punishments.”Justices examined the issue in reference to two specific cases, noting that the decision comes at a time when it says the internet has made access to children “unprecedented.”One of the two appeals it examined concerned a man who pleaded guilty to child luring and sexual interference after having sex with a girl four times over the course of two years, beginning when she was 13 years old ...