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Pennsylvania House control up for grabs yet again in special elections

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats’ narrow majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is on the line Tuesday with two special elections that will determine which party controls the chamber.One of those special elections is expected to swing Republicans’ way, but the other in Delaware County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, will be more competitive. It’s the second time this year that Democrats have sweated the outcome of House special elections, and they hope to be just as lucky as before.The stakes are high: A Democratic victory in Delaware County would give first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The results could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights that legislative Republicans are one House vote away from putting before voters as a referendum.In that race, Democrat Heather Boyd, a former congressional and state legislative aide, will be going up aga...

Stage set for Ecuadorian president or lawmakers to be booted out of office

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A showdown between Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso and the opposition-led National Assembly could result in either side being booted from office this week as lawmakers seek to try him for embezzlement and he mulls exercising his constitutional power to dissolve the legislature.Lawmakers will continue impeachment proceedings against the right-leaning politician Tuesday during a session of the unicameral assembly that Lasso is expected to attend. Political tensions have risen in Ecuador since Lasso, a former banker, was elected in 2021 and clashed from the start with a strong opposition in the Assembly. At the same time, the South American country has experienced an increase in drug-related violence, including several massacres in prisons over the past two years.Whatever happens this week, the country’s overall instability will certainly deepen.“The removal of the president, being an institutional earthquake in any democracy, will be an event that it will sha...

Danny Masterson’s rape retrial: Closing arguments set to begin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Closing arguments are expected to begin Tuesday at the second trial of “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, who is charged with raping three women at his Los Angeles home between 2001 and 2003. Attorneys for both sides rested their cases Friday, three weeks into the trial. Masterson’s defense attorneys declined to call any witnesses. The 47-year-old’s first trial ended in a mistrial in December, with jurors hopelessly deadlocked on all three counts.The actor has pleaded not guilty. He could get 45 years in prison if convicted on all three counts.The Church of Scientology, of which Masterson is a member and all three women are former members, has played an even larger role in the second trial than it did in the first. The judge allowed a former member of the church’s leadership to testify as an expert on the institution’s policies about going to police, and a courtroom controversy broke out during the trial over a Scientology attorney apparentl...

15 killed in clash between 2 tribes over coal mine in NW Pakistan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — At least 15 people were killed and several others were wounded in an hourslong bloody clash between two tribes over the ownership rights of a coal mine in restive northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, police said Tuesday.Armed men from the Sunny Khel and Zarghun Khel attacked each other with assault rifles over the mine’s boundary fixing Monday in Dara Adam Khel, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said local police official Munawar Khan. He said troops were summoned to control the situation when the two tribes refused to stop the fight.Although explosions at coal mines kill scores of people every year across Pakistan, such violent clashes are rare. Coal mines are located across Pakistan, especially in the northwest and southwestern Baluchistan provinces.The Associated Press

FDA says dogs allowed in outdoor dining areas if restaurants permit it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

While most Angelenos are used to seeing pups on restaurant patios, the U.S. Government has now weighed in, providing national guidance on whether people can bring their pet pooches to dinner. In 2020, the Conference for Food Protection, a group of food industry experts, requested the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issue a national recommendation on if it was safe for dogs to be in restaurants. Some three years later, the FDA says that according to its food code, dogs are allowed in outdoor dining areas if that’s the restaurant’s policy. On Ventura Boulevard, there are plenty of pup-friendly patios.   “I don’t go anywhere that doesn’t allow dogs. So, I’m more inclined to take her where dogs are accepted. More than accepted, happy to have her,” Bradley Anderson, with Studio City Life Magazine, told KTLA.  “During the pandemic, people became so attached to their animals, and they don’t want to leave them at home anymore,” said Mary Healy with Pawsi...

A’s smallest crowd in 44 years sees Oakland fall to Diamondbacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

The A’s, playing in front of the smallest home crowd in nearly 44 years, continued their ignominious path to unwanted Major League Baseball history with a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday night.Just 2,064 fans were at the Coliseum as Oakland remained on pace to finish with the third-worst regular season since MLB began in 1876. The announced crowd was the A’s smallest for a home game fans were allowed to attend since drawing 1,037 against Texas on Sept. 19, 1979. A source told Bay Area News Group there were just around 1,400 actual fans in attendance Monday as Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo hit a two-run homer in the second inning and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. added a two-run shot in the third to back Merrill Kelly’s pitching. A’s starter Drew Rucinski had his fourth consecutive poor start to begin the season and fell to 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in 18 innings. Oakland lost its third straight game and seventh in its last eight as its MLB-worst record dropped to 9-34. The A’s are no...

VIDEO: Richmond business robbed in broad daylight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

RICHMOND, Calif. (KRON) – A Richmond business owner says he is still shaken up after he was attacked and robbed outside his shop on Friday. It happened in the middle of the day when his employees and customers were around.The incident is captured on surveillance. Three men pulled into the parking lot in a white car. They backed up to the open garage, and then two men jumped out pointing what looks like guns into the business. You can hear one employee scream in fear as one of the men approaches her. 1 arrested after Kim Kardashian-lookalike dies in Burlingame “You over here just working, trying to make your money, trying to have your life and somebody just comes in and robs you? It’s not safe,” said owner Marcelo Junior. Junior says he was in a side room when he heard all the commotion and ran outside.“They grabbed me and then I fell on the ground. They were looking for my chain. They were like ‘Where’s the chain? Where’s the chain?’ But I didn’t have any chain on me,” he sai...

Perdomo, Gurriel hit 2-run homers as Diamondbacks win 4th straight, beat A’s 5-2 behind Kelly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Merrill Kelly thought for sure Jordan Díaz had swung, and the Arizona pitcher was expecting to add another strikeout to his stellar start. If the call had gone his way, maybe Kelly would have been able to stay in for the complete game he wanted so badly.Instead, Díaz drew a walk and the Diamondbacks’ dugout went berserk before Arizona beat the Oakland Athletics 5-2 on Monday night.Manager Torey Lovullo got tossed by first base umpire Brock Ballou for arguing a check swing, then when Kelly got removed by bench coach Jeff Banister after the next batter, the pitcher gestured toward the baserunner and was ejected, too — for the first time in his life.“I thought that was a terrible call. I thought it was a very, very obvious swing,” Kelly said. “I’ve seen the video of it; in my mind it was a very obvious swing. At that time that guy’s got one job to do and that’s the only thing he’s got to pay attention to right there. Missed it and it...

Padres slugger Manny Machado exits game after getting hit by pitch on left hand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego Padres slugger Manny Machado came out of Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals two innings after he was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Brad Keller.Machado was drilled with the bases loaded in the second to bring in a run in the Padres’ 4-0 win that snapped a five-game losing streak. He played defense at third base in the top of the third but was replaced by pinch-hitter Rougned Odor in the fourth.Padres manager Bob Melvin said X-rays were negative.“There’s nothing broken in there. He got hit on the top of the hand. Might have gotten a nerve or something like that,” Melvin said. “For him to come out of the game, it can’t feel too terribly good. He’s got quite the pain tolerance. We’ve got a lot of treatment. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Green Bay ranks as No. 1 best place to live, but where does DC land?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:28 GMT

The city may be best known for its NFL team and the “Cheeseheads” who fill stands and cheer on their team, but according to a new ranking, Green Bay, Wisconsin, should also be known as the best place to live in the United States.U.S. News and World Reports took a deep dive into the data, ranking the 150 most populous metropolitan areas on things such as value, desirability, job market and quality of life.As for D.C., it found itself further down the list at No. 39.Devon Thorsby, real estate editor at U.S. News, said the nation’s capital ranked well when it comes to the job market because it is third best in the nation, with an average salary of over $80,000 for a single person. Schools, colleges and access to health care also worked in the city’s favor.“I don’t think anyone in the D.C. area that is questioning it’s an extremely expensive place to live and that value, that affordability aspect is a big part of why D.C is at number 39,” Thorsby said.“The places that had an...