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Haitian immigrants sue Indiana over law that limits driver’s license access to certain Ukrainians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments Friday from lawyers for a group of Indiana residents from Haiti who are suing the state over a law that allows immigrants in the U.S. on humanitarian parole to get driver’s licenses, but only if they are from Ukraine. The five plaintiffs say the law passed this year is discriminatory and unconstitutional, and they asked the court to strike down the law’s provision that limits its scope to people from Ukraine.U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said she will issue a ruling at an unspecified date. The lawsuit was filed in August against the Commissioner of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the National Immigration Law Center. The law provides an avenue for immigrants on humanitarian parole from Ukraine to obtain driver’s licenses and identification cards. The class-action lawsuit seeks to force the Bureau of Mot...

Nearly two decades on, Scott Pilgrim’s fandom continues to grow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

Toronto layabout Scott Pilgrim has been 23 for 19 years, but somehow, he still feels fresh. The chronically unemployed bass player is back — this time in the Netflix anime “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” which debuts to a larger built-in audience than any of the character’s previous iterations. The fandom has grown over the years as new generations discover the charms of the Canadian graphic novel series turned indie film, which follows the titular slacker — portrayed in the movie by Canada’s own Michael Cera — as he decides to date Ramona Flowers, an American delivery girl whose seven evil exes are determined to thwart him. “Kids all over the world seem to kind of get it in a weird way,” said Bryan Lee O’Malley, who created the 2004book series and co-wrote the show.“I think it’s the specificity. I always go back to Bruce Springsteen, or the Canadian version, Joel Plaskett. It’s the very specific references grounded in something...

Judge rejects plea for Pennsylvania woman charged with killing 2 children found hanging in basement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

READING, Pa. (AP) — A judge on Friday rejected a plea agreement for a Pennsylvania woman charged with killing her two young children, who were found hanging in the basement of their home nearly four years ago.Lisa Snyder, 40, sought to plead no contest but mentally ill to two counts of third-degree murder in the September 2019 deaths of 4-year-old Brinley and 8-year-old Conner. The children were taken off life support and died three days after they were found in the home in Albany Township, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.Berks County President Judge Theresa Johnson rejected the plea, saying it didn’t serve justice. The case will now head to trial, where Snyder faces charges of first-degree murder, child endangerment and evidence tampering.Snyder, who made the initial 911 call, had told police her son was bullied and had been threatening to take his own life. But authorities were immediately suspicious of her claim of suicide, and said they found no ev...

Alex Murdaugh pleads guilty to financial crimes in state court, adding to prison time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Friday to financial crimes in state court, adding to the prison time facing the longtime lawyer who was convicted of killing his wife and son. Murdaugh agreed to plead guilty to more than a dozen counts, including money laundering, breach of trust and financial fraud, in exchange for a 27-year sentence. The sentence must be approved by Judge Clifton Newman, who set a sentencing hearing for Nov. 28 at which victims or their families will get to speak. Murdaugh is already serving life in prison without parole after he was convicted in March of two counts of murder. His lawyers are seeking a new trial in the murder case, citing allegations that the court clerk tampered with the jury. The clerk has denied the allegations. Murdaugh already admitted his guilt in federal court in September to 22 counts of financial fraud and money laundering. ___Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiativ...

Remains found in remote Arizona desert in 1992 identified as missing teen girl, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Police in Arizona have determined that decomposed remains found in August 1992 in a remote desert area outside Phoenix were those of a missing 15-year-old, Melody Harrison.The Apache Junction Police Department announced Thursday that advancements in DNA testing helped them make the discovery 31 years after Harrison’s disappearance in June 1992.Police said in a news release that the case soon went cold after the remains were found, and for decades the remains were known only as “Apache Junction Jane Doe,” who they believed was between 16 and 18 at the time of her death.The case was later entered into a database maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Unidentified Persons System.According to the entry, authorities believed the teenager had been dead between three and five weeks before her remains were found. She was wearing Levi’s denim shorts, a shirt with soccer balls on the front and back and a yellow ring on her lef...

Study finds Alberta underestimates methane emissions by 50 per cent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

A study from one of Canada’s premiere climate labs says methane emissions from Alberta’s energy industry are underestimated by almost 50 per cent. The study from Carleton University’s Energy and Emissions Research Lab also says oil and gas produced in the province emits significantly more methane for the energy produced than jurisdictions such as British Columbia.Methane is a greenhouse gas considered to be about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release.The findings come as the federal government prepares regulations to control the amount of the gas released into the atmosphere.Alberta’s energy regulator used industry figures to determine that methane emissions in the province have nearly halved since 2014. But the study’s lead author, Matt Johnson, says that calculation doesn’t mean much if the baseline figure is wrong. The lab’s findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications Earth ...

Liberian election officials release most results showing Weah loss but order re-run in one county

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian election officials released nearly all the results from this week’s runoff election showing President George Weah losing his bid for a second term, but said late Friday that the vote would need to be re-run in one county before a winner could be declared.The announcement left the West African country in a tense wait after election officials said that challenger Joseph Boakai had won 50.89% of the votes counted so far, while the incumbent Weah had 49.11%.Election officials also announced that the vote would be reheld Saturday in Nimba County, where the number of ballots cast at one polling station exceeded the number of registered voters.Officials also were still waiting on results from 25 polling stations. Still, Liberian election officials said that the preliminary results announced Friday made up 99.58% of ballots cast on Tuesday.The second round was expected to be an extremely tight after results showed that Weah took 43.83% while Boakai br...

DeSantis appointees seek Disney communications about governor, laws in fight over district

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ board appointees are seeking communications between Disney and local media, as well as documents related to the company’s position on Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, as part of a state court fight over control of the district that governs Walt Disney World.The request for documents and communications was made Thursday by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, now controlled by DeSantis appointees. It sued Disney this year over control of the private government which regulates design and construction and provides municipal services such as mosquito control and road repairs at the Florida theme park resort.The district wants all Disney communications about DeSantis, as well as communications dealing with laws passed by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature that switched control of the district from Disney supporters to the governors’ appointees and nullified deals the company made with the Disney-controlled distr...

George Brown, drummer and co-founder of Kool & The Gang, dead at 74

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — George “Funky” Brown, the co-founder and longtime drummer of Kool & The Gang who helped write such hits as “Too Hot,” “Ladies Night,” “Joanna” and the party favorite “Celebration,” died Thursday in Los Angeles at age 74.Brown died after a battle with cancer, according to a statement released by Universal Music. He had retired earlier in the year, nearly 60 years after the band began, and revealed that he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.Kool & The Gang has sold millions of records with its catchy blend of jazz, funk and soul, what Brown liked to call “the sound of happiness.” In 1964, Brown helped launch the Grammy-winning group, originally called the Jazziacs, along with such friends as bassist Robert “Kool” Bell, brother Ronald Bell on keyboards and guitarist Charles Smith.After years of relative obscurity, name changes and personnel changes, Kool & The Gang broke through in the mid-1970s with “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” among others ...

Woman accused of involvement in death of child found in suitcase in Indiana makes a plea deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:09 GMT

SALEM, Ind. (AP) — A Louisiana woman accused of involvement in the death of a 5-year-old Atlanta boy whose body was found in a suitcase in Indiana last year has reached a plea deal with prosecutors, news outlets reported.Dawn Coleman, 41, of Shreveport, will be sentenced Tuesday, at which time details of the plea deal will be released, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted prosecutor Tara Coats Hunt as saying in a report Friday.Coleman is accused of playing a part in the death of Cairo Ammar Jordan. The child’s body was found inside a suitcase in the woods about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Louisville, Kentucky, in April 2022. Coleman was charged with “aiding, inducing or causing murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and obstruction of justice.”A felony murder arrest warrant was issued for the child’s mother, Dejuane Ludie Anderson, in November 2022, but she has eluded authorities for more than a year, WTHR-TV reported.An autopsy found that Cairo died fr...