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Russia hits illegally annexed Ukraine areas from ground, air

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces used ground- and air-fired missiles, rocket launchers and weaponized drones to bombard the provinces of Ukraine it has illegally annexed but doesn’t fully control, causing casualties, building damage and power outages Friday. The Ukrainian military said Russian forces launched 18 airstrikes, five missile strikes and 53 attacks from multiple rocket launchers between Thursday and Friday mornings. According to the General Staff statement, Russia was concentrating the bulk of its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing on the cities and towns of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka in Donetsk province. Most of Friday’s battlefield reports concerned the four Ukrainian provinces Russia annexed in September: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to gain complete control of the provinces, while Ukraine has indicated it will soon launch a counteroffensive to tak...

Kamala Harris to meet with expelled Tennessee lawmakers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is making a last-minute trip to Tennessee on Friday, hours after the Republican-controlled House expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the Legislature in retaliation for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.Harris will meet with lawmakers, as well as young people advocating for tougher gun control laws, according to a tweet from her spokesperson, Kirsten Allen. She will also meet privately with expelled state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and with Rep. Gloria Johnson, who survived the vote for her ouster. The visit comes after President Joe Biden calling the expulsions “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”“Rather than debating the merits of the issue (of gun control), these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee,” ...

Canadian woman released from Syrian camp released on bail in Alberta

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

OTTAWA — A Canadian woman who was returned from a prison camp in Syria this week has been released on bail in Edmonton pending a terrorism peace bond application.RCMP in Alberta say the 38-year-old woman is subject to a number of conditions while she awaits the peace bond process but did not say what those were.The woman is among a group of six Canadian women and 13 children Global Affairs Canada agreed to repatriate from the prison camps in northeastern Syria in January.Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon has been helping the women get back to Canada and says four of them, plus 10 children, flew to Canada this week.Two of those women are being held in custody in Brampton, Ont., also awaiting a Tuesday bail hearing as the crown requests a terrorist peace bond for them.The fourth woman was not arrested and Greenspon says all of the children are with relatives.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2023.The Canadian Press

Life sentences in Congo for killing of Italian ambassador

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Six men in Congo were sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the 2021 murder of Italy’s ambassador and two others.The sentence was announced by a military tribunal in the capital, Kinshasa, following a six-month trial. Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to Congo since 2017, was one of three people killed in February 2021 in an ambush on a World Food Program convoy that was traveling from Goma, Congo’s eastern regional capital, to visit a WFP school project in Rutshuru.Italian security officer Vittorio Iacovacci and driver Moustapha Milambo were also killed.Violence has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, resources, land and some to protect their communities. Several armed groups are active in the specific area of the attack including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is a Rwandan Hutu rebel group known as FDLR, the Nyatura militia and M23 rebels.The attack occurred in...

Court sides with Justice Dept. on Jan. 6 obstruction charge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court sided Friday with the Justice Department in a case that could have upended hundreds of charges brought in the Capitol riot investigation.A divided three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said a lower court judge was wrong in dismissing the obstruction of Congress offense after concluding that the rioters’ conduct wasn’t covered by the charge in three cases. The decision, however, leaves open the possibility of further challenges to the charge, which has been brought in more than 300 cases in the Justice Department’s massive Jan. 6, 2021, prosecution. The defendants who brought the challenge may also ask the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision. The Justice Department has argued that the charge — punishing anyone who obstructs or impedes an “official proceeding” — clearly fits the conduct of the rioters who halted Congress’ certification of President Joe Bi...

Police: Homeless woman killed shelter coordinator with ax

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — A judge has ordered a mental evaluation for a homeless shelter resident accused of using an ax and knife to kill the shelter’s coordinator in front of horrified workers.Zaaina Mahvish-Jammeh, 38, purchased the ax from a hardware store before requesting a meeting with the shelter coordinator, and used the ax to strike the victim multiple times in the shelter’s living room, police said.She pleaded not guilty to murder on Tuesday, a day after the attack, and remains jailed.Leah Rosin-Pritchard, 36, suffered injuries to her face, neck and torso and was pronounced dead at the scene at Morningside House, a shelter operated by Groundworks Collaborative, police said. Police said Mahvish-Jammeh used an ax with an 18-inch handle and a knife in the attack.Groundworks Collaborative described Rosin-Pritchard as “a wonderfully strong, positive, beautiful and compassionate person.” She was a volleyball coach, a culinary instructor and social worker in Rhode Isla...

Bengals’ Joe Mixon recharged with pointing gun at woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Bengals running back Joe Mixon is again facing a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing over allegations that he threatened and pointed a gun at a woman in Cincinnati earlier this year.City police issued a statement Friday announcing that they had refiled the charge “following the discovery of new evidence during the investigative process” but did not provide further details. The statement also noted no investigatory details or evidence will be disclosed outside of official court proceedings “to preserve a fair and impartial judicial process for all parties involved.”A warrant for Mixon was issued in February. A police officer’s accompanying affidavit alleged that the 26-year-old pointed a firearm and told the victim: “You should be popped in the face. I should shoot you, the police (can’t) get me.”It said the altercation happened a few blocks from the Bengals’ stadium on Jan. 21 — the day before Cincinnati beat the Buffalo Bills in a divisional-round playoff ga...

Chicago group accused of trafficking stolen pharmaceuticals worth millions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

CHICAGO — A group of local men conspired to traffic stolen pharmaceuticals worth millions for over a year, authorities allege.Matthew Smith, 39, of Chicago, Abdel Jarwan, 75, of Chicago, Khaled Hussein, 57, of Chicago, and Wael Kartoum, 26, of Chicago Ridge, were taken into custody recently following a 13-month investigation by multiple agencies.They’re accused of running an illegal fencing conspiracy involving trafficking $2 million worth of stolen pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter merchandise per month in exchange for cash.The products were stolen from retails stores, authorities said. During the investigation, more than $1.3 million worth of stolen products and an estimated $150,00 in cash and gold were recovered. Suburban ringleader gets 9 years in USPS mail-for-cash scheme Smith, Jarwan and Hussein were charged with continuing a financial crimes enterprise and multiple counts of theft. Kartoum was charged with theft.In addition to the listed charges, Smith was also charged...

Former IL gov. candidate charged for threatening Lake County judges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

ANTIOCH, Ill. — A former Antioch man who ran for governor of Illinois in 2018 has been charged and sentenced for threatening Lake County judges, documents say. According to police reports, 2018 Libertarian incumbent Grayson Kash Jackson entered a guilty plea of two felony counts of threatening a public official.On October 7, 2021, police received a phone call from Jackson who expressed his displeasure at the ruling of his pending divorce case. 1 dead, 3 wounded in shooting at Park Forest home A police report stated that while speaking to authorities, Jackson said, "If Judge ****** is not arrested, that he is going to make sure he is f****** dead six feet under, bury him alongside Judge ****." Police officials arrested Jackson at his home in Arkansas days later and extradited him back to Lake County where he has remained.

WGN weatherman Jim Ramsey honored in Island Lake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:42 GMT

ISLAND LAKE, Ill. — Former WGN weatherman Jim Ramsey, who passed away April 8, 2022, is being honored by the Village of Island Lake, the place he called home.Ramsey spent 30 of his 42 year weather forecasting career at WGN-TV before retiring in 2017. Beloved former WGN weatherman Jim Ramsey dies at 69 Friday he was added to the village's "Island Lake Notables Wall of Fame." The event was open to the public. Speakers included his widow Leslie Ramsey along with former WGN colleague Jackie Bange.WGN has honored Ramsey over the years including when he retired in 2017, a somber reflection of his life upon his death in 2022, and a WGN Morning News remembrance of his good natured appearances on the often lighthearted broadcast.You can read his obituary here.