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Hearing Thursday in religious leaders’ lawsuit challenging Missouri abortion ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge on Thursday will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s abortion ban on the grounds that lawmakers who passed the measure imposed their own religious beliefs on others who don’t share them.The lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of 13 Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights. It seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing its abortion law, and a declaration that provisions of the law violate the Missouri Constitution.It is among 38 lawsuits filed in 23 states challenging restrictive abortion laws enacted by conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The landmark ruling left abortion rights up to each state to decide.The lawsuit states the Missouri Constitution “does not tolerate this establishment into law of one particular religious view at the expense of others’ religious freedom a...

A car struck a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo. Police reportedly arrested the driver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A vehicle crashed into a temporary barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday, and reports say police arrested the driver.The alleged motive and whether the embassy was targeted are not known. Protestors often gather against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and the street near the embassy has been barricaded by Japanese police.Police refused to confirm the media reports. A man in his 50s believed to be a member of a right-wing group was arrested at the scene on suspicion of obstructing official duties, public broadcaster NHK and other media reported.An ambulance was dispatched to a nearby location when an emergency call reported one person was injured, the Tokyo Fire Department said. One police officer had a hand injury, the media reports said.Photographs and video footage showed a black compact vehicle crashed into a guardrail by the sidewalk, with debris scattered on the street. The crash site is near an intersection about 100 meters (yards) from the embassy, NH...

Authorities in New York say they’ve made largest-ever seizure of knock-off goods — more than $1B

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities in New York announced on Wednesday the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods, consisting of handbags, shoes and other luxury merchandise valued at more than $1 billion.Two people were charged with trafficking the knock-offs from a New York City storage unit and other locations from January through October, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Photographs released by prosecutors showed shelves stacked with counterfeit wallets and bags in one location and handbags hanging from hooks from floor to ceiling in another. “The seizures announced today consist of merchandise with over a billion dollars in estimated retail value, the largest-ever seizure of counterfeit goods in U.S. history,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. The two men charged could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The Associated Press

Man falls from moving big rig on L.A. area freeway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

Editor's note: This article was changed to correct the location where the incident occurred.A bizarre and dangerous incident was captured on cell phone video in Orange County when a man fell from the back of a big rig Wednesday morning.The video obtained by Traffic News Los Angeles shows a man clinging to the rear of the tractor-trailer as it traveled southbound on the 57 Freeway just before the 91 interchange.The man tries to carefully step off the bumper of the moving vehicle only to tumble and fall onto his chest, the video shows.Video obtained by Traffic News Los Angeles shows a man clinging to the rear of the tractor-trailer as it traveled along the 57 Freeway. Nov. 15, 2023. (TNLA)The truck driver may have been aware of the man's presence since they appeared to be driving slowly compared to other vehicles.Officials with the California Highway Patrol told KTLA that they did not have any information about a person falling from a moving semi-truck, but did receive calls at around...

Today in History: November 16, Oklahoma becomes 46th state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

Today in History Today is Thursday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2023. There are 45 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Nov. 16, 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union. On this date: In 1914, the newly created Federal Reserve Banks opened in 12 cities. In 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations. In 1960, Academy Award-winning actor Clark Gable died in Los Angeles at age 59.In 1961, House Speaker Samuel T. Rayburn died in Bonham, Texas, having served as speaker since 1940 except for two terms. In 1982, an agreement was announced in the 57th day of a strike by National Football League players. In 1989, six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper and her daughter were slain by army troops at the University of Central America Jose Simeon Canas in El Salvador. In 1991, former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards won a landslide victory in his bid to return to office, defeating State Rep. David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader. In 2001...

A vehicle crashed into a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, and reports say police arrested the driver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A vehicle crashed into a barricade near the Israeli Embassy in Tokyo, and reports say police arrested the driver.Source

Colorado case using ‘insurrection’ argument to bar Trump from the ballot goes to the judge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Wednesday heard closing arguments on whether former President Donald Trump is barred from the ballot by a provision of the U.S. Constitution that forbids those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.The hearing came on the heels of two losses elsewhere for advocates who are trying to remove Trump from the ballot under Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which bars from office those who swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it. The measure has only been used a handful of times since the period after the Civil War, when it was intended to stop former Confederates from swamping government positions.Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court dodged the question of whether the provision applies to Trump, who is so far dominating the Republican presidential primary. It dismissed a lawsuit to toss him off that state’s primary ballot by saying that political parties can allow whomever they wan...

Biden, Xi met for hours and agreed to ‘pick up the phone’ for any urgent concerns: ‘That’s progress’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping emerged Wednesday from their first face-to-face meeting in a year vowing to stabilize their fraught relationship and showcasing modest agreements to combat illegal fentanyl and re-establish military communications. But there were still deep differences on economic competition and global security threats. The most assuring takeaway from the meeting for Biden was that if either man had a concern, “we should pick up the phone and call one another and we’ll take the call. That’s important progress,” he said in a news conference following the talks. The two leaders spent four hours together at a bucolic Northern California estate — in meetings, a working lunch and a garden stroll — intent on showing the world that while they are global economic competitors they’re not locked in a winner-take-all faceoff.“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden.The U.S. president t...

Booker scores 31 in return from injury, Suns roll past Timberwolves 133-115

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker scored 31 points in his return from a calf injury, Kevin Durant also scored 31 and the Phoenix Suns cruised past the Minnesota Timberwolves 133-115 on Wednesday night.The Timberwolves had their seven-game winning streak snapped. Booker returned after missing five games with a strained right calf. It was expected to be the first game of the season that all three Suns stars — Durant, Booker and Bradley Beal — played together, but Beal was a late scratch with a sore back.The combo of Booker and Durant provided plenty of production on Wednesday. Booker shot 12 of 22 from the field, adding five assists and four rebounds. Durant made 11 of 15 shots.Phoenix dominated the game for the majority of the night, taking a six-point lead after one quarter, a 22-point lead at halftime and a 28-point advantage into the final quarter. Eric Gordon scored 15 for the Suns, Grayson Allen added 14 and Drew Eubanks had 13, including a dunk over Karl Anthony-Towns.Anthony-Towns l...

Rams QB Matthew Stafford on track to return after missing one start with thumb injury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:10 GMT

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — If not for the black support tape on his right thumb, there would have been no indication Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was less than three weeks removed from injuring it.Stafford took snaps and threw the ball without any apparent difficulty in practice Wednesday, giving him more confidence he will be able to play against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.It is a scenario Stafford didn’t believe was possible when he came out of the 43-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 29 after hitting his thumb three different times, the last of which happened when he caught a 2-point conversion early in the third quarter.“I tried to grab (a football) and it didn’t have any strength and was pretty worried about it,” Stafford said. “Then went back in and did some tests and I thought it was going to be quite a bit worse than it was. So just happy that it’s not as bad as I thought.”Throwing in a steady rain gave Stafford another way to measure how much prog...