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Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao to stop publishing political cartoon Zunzi after government complaints

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong newspaper will stop publishing works by the city’s most prominent political cartoonist after his drawings drew government complaints, in another example of hushed speech and media voices after a Beijing-led crackdown.Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao did not elaborate on why it would stop publishing Wong Kei-kwan’s works. “Ming Pao would like to express gratitude to Zunzi for witnessing how times have changed with us over the last four decades,” its editorial department said, referring to Wong by his pen name. His comic drawings caricatured Hong Kong society’s frustrations since before the then-British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Wong did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment Thursday, and the newspaper did not elaborate on its announcement that it would stop publishing the cartoons on Sunday. It was unclear whether the government played a role in the decision, and the government departments that complained abo...

Book on climate optimism wins Shaughnessy Cohen political writing prize

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

OTTAWA — A hope-filled book about mitigating climate change has won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Journalist Chris Turner received the $25,000 award at Politics and the Pen, an annual fundraising event in Ottawa, for “How to be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World.”The prize from the Writers’ Trust of Canada goes to a book of literary non-fiction that “has the potential to influence thinking on Canadian political life.” Jurors say Turner’s book strikes a delicate balance, acknowledging that it won’t be easy to craft policy that addresses climate change while arguing that it’s possible — and even helpful — to take an optimistic approach to the problem. The other nominees, who receive $2,500, include Norma Dunning for “Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother” and Dale Eisler for “From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Eco...

Amazon to receive $1 billion in tax breaks in eastern Oregon for new data centers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Officials in a remote northeastern Oregon county have voted to give tax breaks worth an estimated $1 billion to Amazon for five more data centers there. Wednesday’s unanimous vote by Port of Morrow’s five commissioners was the last step in securing the enterprise zone incentives, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Companies in the state can receive property tax exemptions through local enterprise zones.Local officials hope the incentives will bring $12 billion in new Amazon spending in their county along the Columbia River about 160 miles (257 kilometers) from Portland. Amazon already has four giant data centers in Morrow County and several hundred local jobs tied to its operations. But its growth has produced contentious debate over how the Seattle company secured its incentives and an ongoing probe over possible self-dealing by some people awarding its tax breaks.The state is investigating potential conflicts of interest among port officials and a former coun...

On heels of damning sex abuse verdict, Trump faces GOP voters on live CNN town hall

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — Unchastened and unrepentant, Donald Trump picked up Wednesday where he left off two years ago, rejecting the 2020 election results and his role in the Jan. 6 riots, denouncing Democrats as “stupid fools” and vowing to make the U.S. a fossil-fuel superpower.Twice impeached, recently indicted and now on the hook for a $5-million sexual abuse and defamation verdict, image rehabilitation was clearly the furthest thing from Trump’s mind as he barrelled into New Hampshire for a prime-time CNN town hall. The former president denied knowing E. Jean Carroll, the “wackjob” whose civil suit ended Tuesday with a finding that Trump sexually assaulted the former magazine writer in 1996, then later defamed her in his public efforts to deny the allegations. He rejected any suggestion that he helped to foment the deadly Capitol Hill riots in 2021, when supporters ran rampant through Congress, fuelled by his still-rigid insistence that he was the rightful wi...

Lincoln Park homeowner looks for answers after receiving nearly $7,000 water bill

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago homeowner is looking for answers after receiving a nearly $7,000 water bill."Trust me you would be reporting a completely different story if I had used 6 hundred gallons of water in a month," said Chuck Wehland to WGN's Alyssa Donovan. "You would be reporting a flood at Cleveland and Armitage."When Chuck Wehland opened up his monthly utility bill from the City of Chicago, he was shocked to see he owed $6,913.24 — with the bill showing that he supposedly used more than 600 gallons of water in just one month.After more than a decade in his Lincoln Park home, Wehland said he knows what to expect when it comes to his water bill from month-to-month."Recently, it's been like $230 a month," Wehland said.That includes water, sewer and garbage pickup, but even with all three wrapped up into one, Wehland said it should never come close to 30 times his typical monthly payment."Everything is the same," Wehland said. "It's not like we hear running water or anything like that....

Could AI be the future of preventing school shootings?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (WPIX) -- Artificial intelligence is creeping into our lives in many ways — one of the most promising possibilities is spotting guns before they can be used at schools. Nexstar's WPIX got an inside look at one of the first schools in the country using the tech to better spot firearms in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. At Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly, something is always watching. It goes beyond the hundreds of security cameras Dr. Christopher Heilig, the superintendent, pointed out as he walked around the sprawling campus.“As a school administrator, it’s a little bit different these days,” Heilig explained. “First and foremost, first thing in the morning, we’re always thinking security and safety.”  Suspected space rock crashes through New Jersey home This is why his high school became one of the first in the country to add something extra by working with a company called ZeroEyes. It uses existing video cameras, coupled with artificial intelli...

Five notable moments from Trump's CNN town hall

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

CNN’s town hall with former President Trump in New Hampshire on Wednesday was filled with a number of headline-making moments, marking Trump’s first appearance on the network in years.The former president kicked off the forum, which was moderated by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, by touting his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Trump also went after E. Jean Carroll one day after he was found liable in a civil case of sexually abusing and defaming her. He also raised eyebrows when he declined to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.Here are five notable moments from Trump’s CNN town hall:Trump calls E. Jean Carroll a ‘whack job’The town hall took place one day after a jury found Trump liable of sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll for her allegation that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.But Trump was dismissive of the findings, as well as any suggestion that it would hurt him in the polls.“This is a fake stor...

Trump returns to CNN for town hall filled with false claims

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

It was 2016 all over again Wednesday night as former President Donald Trump took part in a raucous town hall filled with incendiary claims and jabs at the network. Trump fielded questions from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Republican voters in Manchester, N.H., for more than an hour about his false claims surrounding the 2020 election, his myriad of legal troubles, abortion, the war in Ukraine, immigration and the economy. It was Trump's first appearance on the network since 2016.While Trump’s advisers explained that the former president was returning to the network he routinely lambasts as “fake news” to reach a wider audience, the former president largely offered up the same type of pugilistic politics that defined his 2016 campaign and his four years in the White House. “That was a rigged election,” Trump said just minutes into the town hall of his 2020 election loss.Asked if he had any regrets about his conduct around Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capito...

House comes close to allowing Texans to decide on casinos, sports gambling

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas House came close to approving resolutions to expand gambling in the Lone Star State on Wednesday evening, but fell short of the votes needed to advance the constitutional amendments. Since both measures propose to change the Texas Constitution, there's a higher threshold of votes needed for the legislation to pass out of the House, needing support from two-thirds of the members to advance. If both of these proposals eventually pass both chambers, Texas voters will ultimately get to decide whether to legalize casino gambling and sports betting.The sports betting resolution, HJR 102, came just three votes shy of the needed 100 votes to pass. Its author, Rep. Jeff Leach, (R-Plano), said he is "hopeful and expectant" that he will get all 100 votes needed tomorrow. Two members Democratic members who voted "absent" — Reps. Genu Wu and Yvonne Davis — did vote in favor of the casino gambling measure and Speaker Dade Phelan voted present/not voting, which is stan...

Alexandria hospital custodian accused of secretly recording female employees in locker room

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — An Alexandria hospital custodian has been charged with gross misdemeanor interference with privacy after allegedly filming female employees in a women’s locker room.Corey Ray Johns, 34, is accused of recording the women as they changed out of their scrubs in the locker room. The illicit recording at the west-central Minnesota hospital was detected Sunday.According to the statement of probable cause, Johns was employed as a custodian by Alomere Health and left a phone in recording mode pointed at the changing area.Johns allegedly admitted to police that the phone was his and said: “I guess I don’t know how to put it. I’m just a sad human being.”Johns also stated he had recorded in the coed locker room at Alomere, and that this was not his first time secretly recording people in locker rooms, the statement read.Johns stated that he had been recording women since February.After Johns was arrested and transported to the Douglas County jail, staff discovered a p...