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Proposed Alabama map rejects Supreme Court-mandated second Black-majority district

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Alabama Republicans tasked by the U.S. Supreme Court with redrawing the state’s congressional map are so far rejecting the court’s order to create a second majority-Black district in the state.  While Alabama’s population is 27 percent Black, only one out of the state’s seven districts is majority-Black. In a 5-4 decision in June, the Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge panel’s ruling that Alabama’s current map likely violates the Voting Rights Act, taking away from the voice of Black voters. The group of voters who sued and won before the Supreme Court proposed a second district where Black residents are 50.5 percent of the population, according to The Associated Press. Facing down a Friday deadline, Republican state lawmakers proposed a congressional map on Monday that would increase the percentage of Black voters in the 2nd Congressional District from around 30 percent to nearly 42.5 percent, but still below the court's prescribed level. The proposal was...

Jim Jordan considers holding Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is considering holding Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill Monday.Fox Business was the first to report on Jordan’s potential move, with sources telling the news outlet Meta has not provided any internal communications on its censorship processes.  Zuckerberg was among five tech company heads who received subpoenas in February from the House Judiciary panel to turn over “documents and communications relating to the federal government’s reported collusion with Big Tech to suppress free speech," along with any documents related to their content moderation measures, the committee said at the time.  Jordan previously called the subpoenas “one step to accountability,” as House GOP members ramped up efforts earlier this year to investigate Big Tech.  Zuckerberg testified in Congress in 2018 over GOP concerns that Facebook censored conservative accou...

Georgia Supreme Court denies Trump bid to quash Fulton County investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

The Georgia Supreme Court Monday declined to take up an effort from former President Donald Trump to quash an investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.The unanimous decision from the court’s nine justices was swiftly delivered just days after Trump’s legal team asked the court Friday to block an investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D).Trump in March filed a motion to block Willis’s investigation, a matter that has not yet been decided by a lower court.The court called out Trump’s efforts as procedurally dubious, dismissing his team’s legal argument at every turn. “The Court has made clear that a petitioner cannot invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction as a way to circumvent the ordinary channels for obtaining the relief,” the justices wrote in the five-page opinion.“Petitioner has not shown that this case presents one of those extremely rare circumstances in which this Court’s original jurisdiction should...

ACC, nonprofit start program to help parents go to college

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A pilot program at Austin Community College is aiming to help parents in marginalized communities go to college and grow their careers.The no-cost program, AVANCE to College, will start in August at the ACC South Austin Campus. For three hours a week, parents will take classes learning about their children's development and breaking down barriers to continued education. Courses are taught in English and Spanish. The pilot program is a partnership between ACC and nonprofit AVANCE-Austin, which helps low-income families, predominately Latino, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area.Amber Kreischer, an instructor for AVANCE to College, said the multigenerational program will bridge a gap in the community. She said some people feel they don't belong on a college campus or have barriers to higher education because of costs, childcare, language or transportation. "They're learning all the different things that help them be mindful of their children's development while they're...

Woman hospitalized after Fargo shooting was on the phone with her father as bullets flew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

A 25-year-old woman hospitalized after the Friday, July 14, shootout on a Fargo street that left one Fargo police officer dead had only been in town for a few weeks before she was wounded during the incident.Karlee Koswick, 25, was hospitalized after a shooting July 14 in Fargo, N.D.Karlee Koswick moved to Fargo from Boston three weeks ago to pursue a master’s degree at North Dakota State University, her father told WDAY reporter Kevin Wallevand.Koswick was on the phone with her dad, Allan Koswick, as the incident unfolded. She called him after rear-ending a car that had stopped on 25th Street South.Allan Koswick said that’s when he heard rapid gunfire.“Dad, I’ve been shot,” Karlee Koswick told him.She then dropped the phone, but her call remained live. Allan Koswick said he remained on the line and could hear paramedics assisting his daughter.Karlee Koswick’s mother said her daughter was shot in the hip and calf and had surgery Saturday night. Mo...

New organ donor care centers announced in Twin Cities, Rochester

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

At the gardens adjacent to the M Health University of Minnesota Medical Center, people gathered Monday to plant 2,000 pinwheels in the ground to honor the 2,000 registered organ donors in the M Health Fairview system.LifeSource, Mayo Clinic, and M Health Fairview officials were there to announce the creation of two new donor care units, one in the Twin Cities and the other in Rochester. The hospital units help people before and after donating organs, and to ensure the organs are handled and transported in an efficient, responsible way.Organ donors will be transferred to donor care units from intensive care units, which will free up space for patients who need critical care.Donor care units are intended to help avoid the long wait times between a person qualifying for donors status and physicians being able to recover their organs. The waiting time is a common reason families opt out of authorizing their loved one to become a donor.The first donor care units are expected to be runnin...

Keeler vs. Saunders: Should Rockies “sell high” on MLB All-Star MVP Elias Diaz for more pitching?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

The Rockies rarely make impactful trades at the deadline, but this year they appear poised to trade a reliever, or two, and maybe an outfielder. But what about All-Star catcher Elias Diaz? Would Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt deal him if someone comes calling? Should Schmidt deal him? Denver Post Rockies beat writer Patrick Saunders and columnist Sean Keeler debate.Keeler: The Better Half follows baseball the way most under 45 follow baseball, which is, to say, not a lick. Yet during vacation last week, while watching highlights of Elias Diaz and his heroics at the 2023 All-Star Game from afar, we had this exchange:“Look at that! Hey, good for Elias Diaz,” I chuckled. “Rockies get their first catcher into the ASG and he’s their first-ever All-Star MVP.”“Good guy?” Mrs. K asked.“Oh, yeah. Super guy. He’s 32, though. You watch, they’re gonna try and sign him to an extension now.”“Really? Why would he sign it...

Fox analyst Brock Huard: Trenches will be key to CU Buffs’ season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Former NFL and University of Washington quarterback Brock Huard is now an analyst for Fox Sports and Seattle Sports radio. (Provided by Seattle Sports)Like just about everyone else who follows college football, Brock Huard is interested to see how the Colorado Buffaloes will do in their first season with Deion Sanders as head coach.As a longtime analyst and former quarterback, though, Huard knows the key is going to be how the Buffaloes perform in the trenches.“From the hashmarks-out, they will be really good,” Huard told BuffZone at Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, last week.Huard, an analyst for Fox Sports and Seattle Sports radio, played quarterback at Washington from 1995-98 before a six-year NFL career.Last year, Huard’s alma mater hired head coach Kalen DeBoer, who took the Huskies from 4-8 in 2021 to 11-2 last year. Sanders’ task is much different, as he took over a 1-11 CU team and totally revamped the roster.“What (DeBoer) inherited on the offensive line especially an...

Satellite images show surging water levels at Lake Powell

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

With last winter’s snowpack largely gone, scientists are getting a better picture of the impact on the southwestern United States’ most critical source of fresh water: the Colorado River.Satellite images captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus SENTINEL-2 satellites between March 18 and July 16, 2023, show water levels surging at Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir that straddles Utah and Arizona.As of July 16, the lake’s water levels were up by 45.57 feet year over year, according to the Lake Powell Water Database, but still more than 100 feet below full capacity.The Colorado River provides roughly one-third of all water for Southern California’s cities, suburbs and agricultural communities.Dams at Lake Powell, Lake Mead and Lake Havasu also provide hydroelectricity for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the southwestern U.S.

Man detained by deputies while returning items at mall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to a mall in Temecula Monday on reports that a man with a rifle was seen walking into the property.  The incident at the Temecula Promenade Mall, located in the 40000 block of Winchester Road, occurred at around 10:47 a.m., according to a RCSD news release.  “Upon arrival, deputies immediately began a search of the property, spoke with witnesses, and obtained further information on the possible armed male and his whereabouts,” officials said.  Authorities eventually located a man matching the description provided by witnesses inside the mall, detained him and found two airsoft rifles in his possession.  Police fatally shot a man carrying this airsoft rifle on Sept. 17, 2022. (Los Angeles Police Department)“The investigation revealed that the male intended on returning the airsoft rifles to an airsoft gaming business located within the mall, and there was no evidence of a crime,” the release n...