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Video shows Oklahoma judge scrolling social media and texting on cell phone during trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) — A new judge in Oklahoma is facing scrutiny after courtroom video showed her scrolling through social media and texting throughout a murder trial, a newspaper reports.Security video obtained by The Oklahoman shows Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom texting or messaging for minutes at a time during jury selection, opening statements and testimony in the trial for a man in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son. At one point, Soderstrom searched for a GIF, an animated image.Soderstrom, 50, can also be seen checking Facebook during the trial, which began last month in Chandler, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City, the newspaper reported. Soderstrom was sworn in on Jan. 9 after being elected in November.Soderstrom declined to comment to the newspaper because the verdict could still be appealed, saying judges are prohibited from discussing pending cases. A request for comment from The Associated Press was not imm...

Missouri Supreme Court orders the GOP attorney general to stand down in fight over abortion costs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Republican attorney general to stand down and allow an initiative petition to legalize abortion in the state to move forward. Supreme Court judges unanimously affirmed a lower court’s decision that Attorney General Andrew Bailey must approve the cost estimate provided by the auditor, despite Bailey’s insistence that the cost to taxpayers of restoring abortion rights could be as much as a million times higher than what the auditor found. Because Bailey refused to approve Republican Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s cost estimate, the secretary of state has not been able to give the amendment his stamp of approval that is needed for supporters to begin gathering voter signatures to put it on the ballot in 2024. In Thursday’s Supreme Court order, judges found that Bailey’s stonewalling meant plaintiff Anna Fitz-James, who was represented by the ACLU of Missouri, lost out on nearly 100 days s...

The sea otter harassing surfers off the California coast eludes capture as her fan club grows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A sea otter launched into the national spotlight after images of her aggressively wresting surfboards away from surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California circulated on social media is building a fan club as she continues to evade capture.A team of wildlife experts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium have been trying to capture the 5-year-old animal, known as otter 841, since last week because they say she poses a public safety risk.They say they want to examine her and relocate her at a zoo or aquarium —as yet to no avail.She now has a growing fan club, with people showing up every day to get a glimpse of her spending time sunbathing on the rocky shore, diving in the water and chomping down on crabs. Jessica Fujii, Sea Otter Program Manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said the team has faced some challenges in its pursuit, including bad weather.“The main issue is more just her ability to evade. Be...

Bipartisan trio of senators propose federal oversight of NIL compensation, athlete health care

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

A bipartisan group of senators announced Thursday they are working on a college sports bill that would create national regulations for name, image and likeness compensation for players, establish an entity to oversee enforcement of those rules and fund long-term health care for athletes.“Our goal is to stabilize college athletics and make sure that our athletes are fairly treated,” said Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) during a conference call with reporters.Moran and Democrats Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) are proposing the College Athletes Protection & Compensation Act. It is only a discussion draft at this point, far from even being formally introduced, but notable in that both Democrats and Republicans are involved in trying to address issues that have disrupted college sports and the role of the NCAA.Booker called it a significant step.“Our goal has been a product that could get 60 votes in the United States Senate. And we believe we are close to reaching that goal,...

Man sought for photographing young children in Etobicoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a man that was spotted taking photos of young children in Etobicoke.Police were called to the Royal York Road and Evans Avenue area around 2:30 p.m. on July 11 for reports of a suspicious incident.It’s alleged that a suspicious man was observed taking photos of young children with his cell phone. Police said a concerned citizen approached the man and made him delete the photos.The man then fled the area on foot.Toronto police did not release any other details. There is no description of the wanted man.

Exclusion of race in federal climate justice screening tool could worsen disparities, analysis says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

A screening tool the federal government is using to decide which neighborhoods have a disproportionate amount of pollution and risk of damage from climate change could worsen air pollution exposure disparities along racial lines, according to a new analysis. Researchers from several universities around the United States who modeled the potential effects of the use of the tool in guiding federal investment told The Associated Press it’s because race was excluded as a part of the equation that decides which communities are the most in need.The analysis they did, which was published in Science on Thursday, brings important context to a debate between the federal government and the environmental and climate justice community over how to improve decades-old environmental and climate disparities.Marshall and other researchers used the tool to model three 20-year scenarios: one where no action is taken to reduce emissions, one where emissions are aggressively reduced and one where emission...

Budget watchdog reviewing underused housing tax again as U.S. critics push for relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

WASHINGTON — Canada’s budget watchdog is taking a second look at Ottawa’s new tax on underused housing that critics hope will lead to a last-minute reprieve for U.S. cottage owners. The Parliamentary Budget Office has agreed to review its initial 2022 analysis of the measure in response to a request from a group of Conservative MPs led by Tony Baldinelli, who has represented the riding of Niagara Falls since 2019. Originally intended to ease big-city housing prices, the impacts of the tax “are catching many Canadian and foreign property owners by surprise in Canada’s rural and agricultural areas,” the group wrote to the office earlier this month.In rural communities across the country, some farmers and their families own multiple properties in order to house agricultural workers, the letter continues. “Meanwhile, in border communities like Fort Erie and Port Colborne, many U.S. residents have owned properties in Canada for decades — and in some ca...

Actors and writers on strike rally in Philadelphia and Chicago as union action spreads

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

Striking screenwriters and actors held rallies in Philadelphia and Chicago on Thursday as the labor dispute that has halted Hollywood spreads to more cities.While Los Angeles and New York are the epicenters of strike actions, there are dozens of mid-sized and small locals across the country representing performers and writers.“We have the same issues,” said Nikki Izanec, president of the Philadelphia SAG-AFTRA local, on her way to Thursday's rally. “Lots of people pay attention to L.A. and New York, but our issues are the same as theirs.”The Philadelphia rally at Love Park drew actors Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter, stars of the hit Philly-set TV show “Abbott Elementary.” Said Ralph: “Enough is enough and we demand more.” Actors David Morse and Brian Anthony Wilson also attended. Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted unanimously last week to start striking, joining the Writers Guild of America, who walked out o...

Five things to know about the real-life Oppenheimer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

(The Hill) - With the Friday release of the critically acclaimed film “Oppenheimer,” audiences are getting a fresh look at the physicist dubbed the “father of the atomic bomb.”Cillian Murphy stars as the title role in the Christopher Nolan-directed biopic based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.”Gregg Herken, author of “Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller,” described Oppenheimer as “complicated and contradictory.”“He could be needlessly cruel, but he could also be very generous,” Herken told The Hill this week.Here are five little-known facts about the real-life Oppenheimer, who before dying of throat cancer at 62 in 1967, changed the course of history:Intelligence evident at an early ageThe New York Times, in a 1963 profile of Oppenheimer, described how when the budding scientist w...

Person found dead after EMS responds to wilderness call in southeast Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- One person is dead after they were found at Mabel Davis District Park Thursday, Austin-Travis County EMS medics told KXAN.The Austin Fire Department said it arrived to the scene first and found the body.Around 9:30 a.m., medics said they responded to a report for a wilderness call and pronounced the person deceased.Additionally, the Austin Police Department said it was not investigating the incident as a homicide.It was not immediately clear what led to the person's death, which remained under investigation Thursday.