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Top US officials to visit Mexico for border talks as immigration negotiations with Congress continue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and MARK STEVENSON (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — A delegation of top U.S. officials is expected to visit Mexico soon as negotiations over how to enforce immigration rules at the two countries’ shared border continue on Capitol Hill.Republican and Democratic lawmakers are debating border policy changes as part of a larger conversation over U.S. assistance for Ukraine and Israel, which are top foreign policy priorities for the White House. The upcoming visit to Mexico comes amid controversy over the closure of two rail crossings in Texas earlier this week. U.S. officials said the personnel needed to be redeployed to handle high numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. Mexican businesses warn that the closings are hampering trade. President Joe Biden spoke with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday and agreed that additional border enforcement was needed so the crossings can be reopened, according to White Hous...

QB Nathan Rourke unsure of Patriots plan but excited for opportunity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

FOXBORO — New Patriots quarterback Nathan Rourke is trying to learn what the rest of his teammates have digested over the last five months in just three weeks.It’s a tough task for the former CFL quarterback, but he’s also just happy to be on an NFL roster. Rourke went undrafted out of Ohio in 2020 and spent three seasons in the CFL before landing with the Jaguars this season. He started the season on the practice squad before signing to the 53-man roster in October. When the Jaguars waived him on Saturday, the Patriots jumped at the opportunity to claim him Monday.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Callahan: How much of this Patriots season can be blamed on injuries? New England Patriots | Wahlberg: Hold your fire Patriots Nation, Belichick’s still the GOAT New England Patriots | Patriots’ cornerback depth has been tested by everything in 2023 New England Patriots | Patriots-Broncos injury ...

‘The Boys in the Boat’ review: Clooney navigates mostly gentle waters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

Perhaps George Clooney had no interest in adding to your holiday stress.A Christmas Day release, the Clooney-directed “The Boys in the Boat” tells the tale of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team, which competed at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.It does so in an old-fashioned, relatively low-conflict approach, resulting in a movie-viewing experience that is both easy to digest and at least a little underwhelming.Based on Daniel James Brown’s 2013 bestselling book of the same name, “The Boys in the Boat” begins by introducing us to the mild-mannered and generally quiet Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), who years ago was abandoned by his father and stepmother and now, during the Great Depression, lives in a shanty town in Seattle. He attends UW, aiming for a career as an engineer, but he’s struggling to pay tuition.Joe’s pal Roger Morris (Sam Strike, “American Outlaw”) suggests they try out for the rowing team, as a place on the unit would come with food, lodging and enough money to ...

Traveling for the holidays? Here’s how to check flu and COVID levels at your destination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

When you get ready to travel for the holidays, you may want to know how sick people are in destination where you are going.As of Friday, 17 states are reporting “high” or “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity, federal health data shows. The states where illness activity is highest are scattered throughout the U.S. but most of the Southeastern states are seeing high levels, along with Western states like California, Nevada and Colorado. New Jersey and New York City also are seeing high levels, based on percentage of visits to outpatient healthcare providers or emergency departments for fever and cough or sore throat.States with the lowest levels of respiratory illness are Minnesota and West Virginia. To check the level of respiratory activity in the area where you are traveling, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention respiratory illness dashboard.“Every individual has a different risk tolerance and a different medical history,” said Alicia Budd, lead of dom...

What to watch: ‘Iron Claw’ is a masterpiece

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

The end of the year finds awards-hungry film studios wrapping up and stuffing into theaters some some of their best goodies for audiences to unwrap over the holiday break.For the most part, you’ll be thrilled with what you’ll be given, particularly “The Iron Claw,” “American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “All of Us Strangers.”Here’s our roundup.“The Iron Claw”: Four brothers (Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons) deep in the heart of Texas sacrifice their dreams, careers and even their lives for their domineering manager/coach/father (Holt McCallany) who aims to create a wrestling dynasty.Director/screenwriter Sean Durkin treats this portrait of the real-life Von Erich family — a dominant force in sport in the late ‘70s and ‘80s — as if it were an American and Shakespearean tragedy. It makes for a potent combination, a knockout in every way.As he’s done with all the works that bear his imprint — “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “The Nest” and the Amazon P...

Toronto officer with prior assault charge suspended with pay for hitting woman: TPS

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

A Toronto police officer who was charged with assaulting a woman in 2022 is facing a similar offence and has been suspended with pay once again.The Toronto Police Service (TPS) said on Dec. 20, 2023, a man and a woman were involved in a dispute when a woman was assaulted.Const. Sameer Kara, 40, was charged with assault that same day. Related: 3 Toronto cops found not guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague Const. Kara was slated to appear in court on Dec. 21. He has 14 years of service with the TPS and has been suspended with pay. In April 2022, Const. Kara was charged with assaulting a woman in the area of Dundas Street West and Keele Street. At the time of that incident, the TPS said Kara was not on duty.In 2015, Const. Kara was one of three Toronto police officers who were acquitted and found not guilty of sexually assaulting a parking enforcement officer in a hotel.

Connecticut man gets 12 years in prison for failed plan to fight for Islamic State in Syria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

A Connecticut man who pleaded guilty to planning to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria was sentenced to 12 years in prison on a terrorism charge Thursday, a lighter punishment than what had been sought by prosecutors who called him a danger to society.A judge imposed the punishment on Kevin McCormick, 30, a former Hamden resident, in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the U.S. attorney’s office called for a 20-year prison term. Judge Kari Dooley also ordered that McCormick be placed on supervised release with GPS monitoring for the rest of his life after the time behind bars.“His desire to fight for a violent foreign terrorist organization and kill people, and his multiple attempts to travel to the Middle East to carry out that desire, show that he poses a grave threat,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj Patel wrote in the government’s sentencing recommendation.McCormick, who was arrested in October 2019 as he tried to board a plane to Canada with plans...

Ohio governor visits hospitals, talks to families as decision on gender-affirming care ban looms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

BEXLEY, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been visiting hospitals and speaking with families helped and harmed by gender-affirming care as he decides what action to take on legislation preventing minors from obtaining such treatments, he told The Associated Press in a year-end interview Thursday.“I’m trying to learn as much as I can to make a good decision,” he said during the sitdown at the Governor’s Residence, where he also discussed implementation of the state’s new recreational marijuana law, term limits, abortion, the death penalty and the 2024 U.S. Senate race. DeWine has until Dec. 29 to either sign or veto the gender-affirming care bill, which also blocks transgender student athletes from playing girls’ and women’s sports, or he can allow it to become law without his signature.He said he cleared his calendar this week in order to visit three Ohio children’s hospitals — in Akron, Cincinnati and Columbus — to study the issue....

'We are not all bad': Migrants stuck waiting at O'Hare, facing uncertain future in latest kick of 'political football' from Texas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

CHICAGO — Just as Chicago emptied its police stations of asylum seekers, there's a new path to the city, and it's been opened by the governor of Texas.For months, O'Hare International Airport has been a temporary waystation for migrants newly arriving to Chicago as they await shelter. Now, O'Hare is back in the spotlight, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott begins a new campaign to “fly” migrants to Chicago in what's now become a game of "political football" with human lives.On Tuesday evening, Abbott's office confirmed that Texas emergency management officials chartered a private plane from El Paso to O'Hare carrying approximately 100 migrants.Facing the threat of fines and the impoundment of the “buses” that have carried migrants to Chicago to this point, Abbott says he’ll now send them by plane. At approximately 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, 120 migrants were dropped at a private terminal at O'Hare without warning.On Thursday, WGN investigative reporter Ben Bradley spent some time with the migrants n...

Joliet man, 21, charged with murder in killing of his mother, Joliet Police Dept. announces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:27 GMT

JOLIET, Ill. — A Joliet man has been charged with the murder of his mother after being taken into custody, the Joliet Police Department announced Thursday.Justen Holman, 21, was processed and transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility on a charge of first-degree murder.According to police, Holman was taken into custody on Wednesday in the 1500 block of North Larkin Ave. in Joliet after indicating to officers that he had recently killed someone at his residence in the 6400 block of Langsford Lane.Police say officers located Holman's 48-year-old mother at the Langsford Lane residence. According to police, she appeared to have sustained gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead by the Will County Coroner's Office.Officers recovered the handgun believed to be used in the shooting, according to police.In a Wednesday news release, police said officers responded to a parking lot in the 1500 block of North Larkin Ave. after a 911 call was received from a 21-year-old male wishing t...