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Veto overridden: Ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect in North Carolina

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM (Associated Press/Report for America)RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Transgender youth in North Carolina lost access Wednesday to gender-affirming treatments after the Republican-led General Assembly overrode the Democratic governor’s vetoes of that legislation and other bills touching on gender in sports and LGBTQ+ instruction in the classroom.GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate enacted — over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto — a bill barring medical professionals from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and surgical gender-transition procedures to anyone under 18, with limited medical exceptions.The policy takes effect immediately, but minors who had begun treatment before Aug. 1 may continue receiving that care if their doctors deem it medically necessary and their parents consent.North Carolina becomes the 22nd state to enact legislation restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. But most of those laws face legal challenges, and ...

Boston City Council ballot drawing listed Kendra Lara as Kendra Hicks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

A few eyebrows were raised when the Boston Election Department listed City Councilor Kendra Lara as Kendra Hicks at a lottery drawing that determined what order candidates will appear on the preliminary ballot.The drawing was held Aug. 7, less than a week after questions about Lara’s name change were raised at a Boston Ballot Law Commission hearing, where a residency challenge against the councilor was considered and ultimately dismissed.Sabino Piemonte, the city’s head assistant registrar of voters, said the discrepancy was just a mistake on his part that was quickly corrected. The incumbent’s name is listed as Kendra Lara on the ballot for the Sept. 12 preliminary election, he told the Herald Wednesday.“That was a typo when I was typing it up when we were doing the drawing,” Piemonte said. “There’s a previous file that we use on that, and unfortunately, I forgot to change her name to Lara. She made all the proper documentation and changes here with our office.”A screenshot provide...

Inmates at California women’s prison sue federal government over sexual abuse

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Eight inmates at a San Francisco Bay Area lockup — dubbed the “rape club” by prisoners and workers alike — filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal Bureau of Prisons, saying sexual abuse and exploitation has not stopped despite the prosecution of the former warden and several former officers. The lawsuit filed in Oakland by attorneys representing the inmates and the advocacy group California Coalition for Women Prisoners also names the current warden and 12 former and current guards. It alleges the Bureau of Prisons and staff at the Dublin facility didn’t do enough to prevent sexual abuse going back to the 1990s. An Associated Press investigation last year found a culture of abuse and cover-ups that had persisted for years at the prison, about 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Oakland. That reporting led to increased scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the federal Bureau of Prisons that it would fix problems and change the culture at the prison.The Bur...

Police who fatally shot a pregnant woman are sued by her family in Colorado

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Destinee Thompson was supposed to be on her way to lunch with her stepmother in August 2021 when Colorado police, mistaking her for a robbery suspect, fatally shot the pregnant mother as she fled in her minivan.Frustrated by the district attorney’s decision last year not to charge the officers, Thompson’s family filed a wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit on Tuesday against five officers from the Denver suburb of Arvada who were present when she was killed. “I want their badges,” said Francis Thompson, Destinee’s father. “She’s 5-foot tall, seven months pregnant. … You’re a grown man and you’re threatened by that? You don’t deserve to be able to wear a badge.”They allege Destinee Thompson’s race — she’s part Hispanic and part Native American — played a role in her being targeted. Officers were looking for a suspect described as white or Hispanic. “If this was a affluent white person getting into her vehicle, they would never have st...

B.C. police seek suspected getaway driver in killing of Sikh temple leader Nijjar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — Homicide investigators in British Columbia say they are seeking the suspected getaway driver for the killers of Surrey Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down on June 18.Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said the suspect waited in a car for two men who shot Nijjar in his own vehicle in Surrey, B.C., outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where Nijjar was president.Pierotti told a media briefing on Wednesday that the suspect drove a silver 2008 Toyota Camry that was parked near 121 Street and 68 Avenue before and during the killing.Anyone who was aware of the vehicle has been asked to contact investigators.Investigators previously said they were seeking two “heavy-set” suspects seen fleeing the scene.The killing has prompted protests outside Indian consulates and accusations of foreign involvement.Pierotti said he was aware of posters across Metro Vancouver that suggest Indian diplomats were involved in ...

Woman charged with murder in case of Kansas officer killed in shootout with car chase suspect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — A Tennessee woman was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday in connection with the killing of a police officer in suburban Kansas City after a car chase ended in a shootout that also killed the fleeing vehicle’s driver.Andrea Rene Cothran, 32, Goodlettsville, was already charged with crimes stemming from the Aug. 6 police chase, the Johnson County prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Those include aggravated battery, fleeing law enforcement, felony theft and reckless driving. The earlier charges all pertain to the police chase, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe told the Kansas City Star earlier this month. He said the battery charge is related to the start of the chase, using the vehicle as a deadly weapon.Her bond was set at $1 million. Fairway police Officer Jonah Oswald, 29, had been on the force for four years. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died a few days later. He leaves behind a wife and two young children...

Patrick Hamilton, ex-AP and Reuters photographer who covered Central American wars, dies at 74

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) — Patrick Hamilton, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War who covered civil wars in Central America as a photojournalist for The Associated Press and later worked at Reuters covering the first Gulf War in Iraq, has died after a long struggle with cancer. He died at age 74 Sunday at home in San Antonio. Hamilton’s experience in Vietnam served him well in Central America during the 1980s and then with Reuters, for which he covered Operation Desert Storm in 1990.Colleagues remembered him as a gentle professional who was cool under pressure and as someone they wanted at their side in conflict zones like El Salvador and Nicaragua.“When I drove around in a war zone in northern Nicaragua with a guy like Hamilton sitting shotgun, I had a sense of security that I did not enjoy if riding around with some everyday John Doe,” photojournalist and author Bill Gentile wrote in his memoir, “Wait for Me.”“Pat had seen war as a Marine combatant in Vietnam and those experie...

Chicago sends food, supplies to Maui in support of wildfire relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

CHICAGO — Food and other critical supplies are headed from the Chicago area to Hawaii to help those affected by the wildfires in Maui.Special cargo was loaded Wednesday for a United Airlines flight at O’Hare International Airport, which included 24,000 pounds of packages of various much-needed supplies, such as baby formula and toiletries.The donation stemmed from a request from Kings Catherdral Church in Hawaii. Maui fire death toll reaches 106 as first two victims identified "It's just the start for us," said Omar Idris, the vice president of United Airlines at O'Hare. "Happy to support everything we can to a very special place for us."Idris told WGN News the company has also helped transport more than 12,000 people back to the US mainland since the tragedy struck. "We’ve also done everything we can to keep fares minimum so people can get off the island if needed," Idris said.  Raising Cane’s donating 15% of profits Thursday for Maui relief Various efforts remain underway acro...

Chicago man sentenced to 11 years for sexual assault of girl during remote-learning class

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge Wednesday sentenced a Chicago man to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old female relative in an act witnessed in an online forum used for remote teaching.Catrell Walls, 21, pleaded guilty to a felony sexual assault charge for the Oct. 15, 2020, attack. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped two other felony counts and an unrelated weapons case, the Chicago Tribune reported.The assault took place at a home from which the girl was participating in class remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors said. During a break, the teacher asked students to mute themselves and turn off their cameras. The girl muted herself but she did not turn off the camera, and the teacher witnessed the assault, prosecutors said. PREVIOUS: 18-year-old admits to sexually assaulting 7-year-old Chicago girl during e-learning The teacher contacted the school’s principal, who called the girl’s family, Chicago police and the Illinois D...

Crane High School hosts CPS Back-To-School Bash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:14 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago Public School students stocked up on school supplies at Crane High School's back-to-school bash Wednesday afternoon."One of the best schools in the city of Chicago," said Ald. Walter Barnett (27th), on Crane High School. "Where they teach medical practices in this school."While local politicians touted the the school's curriculum, it was also a chance for those in attendance to say goodbye to the summer with a bang. At the celebation, there was dancing, bounce houses, goodies and plenty of other fun activities, all the make the transition back to school on Aug. 21 a little bit easier.Also at the back-to-school bash, Mayor Brandon Johnson, who handed out backpacks with the help of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. In between handing out school supplies, Johnson spent time reiterating that students should have all the tools they need to have a safe and healthy learning environment."No matter who you are—Black, brown, white, no matter what zip code you're in," Johnson said. "Yo...