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Rep. George Santos is facing a vote on his expulsion from Congress as lawmakers weigh accusations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. George Santos of New York is facing a critical vote to expel him from the House on Friday as lawmakers weigh whether his actions, fabrications and alleged lawbreaking warrant the chamber’s most severe punishment.The first-term Republican congressman is at grave risk of becoming just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues. Expulsion requires support from two-third of the House, a purposefully high bar, but a blistering House Ethics Committee report released on Nov. 16 that accused Santos of breaking federal law may prove decisive.“I will not stand by quietly,” Santos declared on the House floor Thursday as lawmakers debated his removal. “The people of the Third District of New York sent me here. If they want me out, you’re going to have to go silence those people and go take the hard vote.” Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War. The remaining two occurred after the lawmakers ...

For a male sexual assault survivor, justice won in court does not equal healing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

When Sam Schultz was sexually assaulted, it felt like a part of them died.It took eight years and the burgeoning #MeToo movement to spur them to go public and make a police report, and an additional five years for their attackers to plead guilty.Now, as much as Schultz hopes there’s a reckoning coming in gay and queer communities, too, it feels like they are the one shouldering the blame, not the attackers. Instead of being able to focus on recovery, Schultz has been saddled with worries from other gay men that talking about sexual abuse in their community will hurt the fight for LBGTQ+ rights.The pain of the assault and ensuing public attention and court proceedings have taken a huge toll.“It is an exhausting and horrifying journey that I almost quit because it just takes way too much of a person,” Schultz said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And to any person who has pursued justice and quit along the way, I get it. The system is not built for us. The system is built t...

Report: Belief death penalty is applied unfairly shows capital punishment’s growing isolation in US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — More Americans now believe the death penalty, which is undergoing a yearslong decline of use and support, is being administered unfairly, a finding that is adding to its growing isolation in the U.S., according to an annual report on capital punishment.But whether the public’s waning support for the death penalty and the declining number of executions and death sentences will ultimately result in the abolition of capital punishment in the U.S. remains uncertain, experts said.“There are some scholars who are optimistic the death penalty will be totally eradicated pretty soon,” said Eric Berger, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I think what’s more likely is it’s going to continue to decline. But I think it’s less likely that in the foreseeable future it’ll totally disappear.” In 2023, there were 24 executions in the U.S., with the final one for the year taking place Thursday in Oklahoma. Additionally, 21 people were sentenced to death ...

Takeaways from AP’s Interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Associated Press was invited to tour an embattled town in northeastern Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of an exclusive interview with him. Some takeaways from the session:THE LOOMING WINTER CAMPAIGNZelenskyy said the onset of winter marks a new phase of the 21-month-old war with Russia that will impact not only front-line battlefields but also civilians in cities and towns, as well as the export of grain.He anticipates a resumption of an intense Russian air campaign. Such attacks last year struck key civilian infrastructure, affecting power, heat and water supplies. Russia also targeted grain silos and ports, hampering export capabilities.Although Ukraine has robust air defenses, thanks to Western allies, and has managed to thwart most drone and missile attacks on major cities, Russia appears to be intent on overwhelming these capabilities. Zelenskyy said protecting civilian areas in addition to keeping up defenses on the long front lin...

What’s streaming this weekend: Indiana Jones, Paris Hilton, Super Mario and ‘Ladies of the 80s’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

Super Mario, an Elvis Christmas special and Paris Hilton enjoying motherhood are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.Also among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are Peter Gabriel’s long awaited album, a Robin Hood game with robots and Harrison Ford’s last hurrah as Indiana Jones swings onto Disney+.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— The biggest box-office hit of the year not named “Barbie” is coming to Netflix. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” hits the streaming service Sunday, Dec. 3, after its previous run on Peacock. The film, which grossed nearly $1.4 billion in theaters, has fared slightly better than the infamous 1993 “Super Mario Bros.” In my review, I praised the primary-color visuals but wrote that “as nice as it is to look at ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie,’ it’s not anywhere near as fun as it would be to play it.”— Todd Haynes’ “May December” is a deliciously disquieting drama loos...

The AP Interview: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says the war with Russia is in a new phase as winter looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the war with Russia is in a new stage, with winter expected to complicate fighting after a summer counteroffensive that failed to produce desired results due to enduring shortages of weapons and ground forces.Despite setbacks, however, he said Ukraine won’t give up.“We have a new phase of war, and that is a fact,” Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine after a morale-boosting tour of the region. “Winter as a whole is a new phase of war.”Asked if he was satisfied by the results of the counteroffensive, he gave a complex answer.“Look, we are not backing down, I am satisfied. We are fighting with the second (best) army in the world, I am satisfied,” he said, referring to the Russian military. But he added: “We are losing people, I’m not satisfied. We didn’t get all the weapons we wanted, I can’t be satisfied, but I also can’t complain too mu...

Detainees in El Salvador’s gang crackdown cite abuse during months in jail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The day he was arrested, Luis was in a government office trying to get a document attesting to his clean criminal history so he could apply for a call center job.“What I wanted at that time was something better for my life,” said the 23-year-old, who was working as a baker.When his turn came, he was told an agent from the National Civil Police would be involved because there was an offense on his record, an allegation that he had been associated with gang members. Luis was floored. Denying it repeatedly was useless, he recalled, because “at that time people didn’t have rights.”That was April 2022, the month after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele received special powers suspending fundamental rights like access to a lawyer or being informed of why you were arrested. Bukele launched a full-scale war against the country’s powerful street gangs. The exceptional powers remain in effect more than 1 1/2 years and some 72,000 arrests later.Accused of illegal association...

Minneapolis’ Leslie Fhima gets her heart broken in emotional finale of ‘The Golden Bachelor’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

In the emotionally charged finale of “The Golden Bachelor,” 72-year-old retired Indiana restaurateur Gerry Turner proposed to a woman who was not Minneapolis fitness instructor Leslie Fhima. And Fhima was clearly crushed.“You made it sound like you chose me,” she said between sobs. “You led me down a path and then you took a turn and left me there. It’s mindboggling, to be honest, how you can talk to me all night, say you love and then one day — not even a day, 12 hours later – you’d change your mind. I poured my heart out. I fell in love with you.”The episode, which aired Thursday night on ABC, took place at a resort in Costa Rica, after Turner went on overnight dates with 64-year-old Fhima and 70-year-old New Jersey financial services professional Theresa Nist. (At the end of the finale, which was half prerecorded material and half live-in-studio, host Jesse Palmer announced Turner and Nist were going to get married on Jan. 4, with the ceremony broadcast live on ...

Riverside County father killed, daughter hospitalized as gunman remains at large

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

Authorities are searching for a gunman who left a father dead and his young daughter hospitalized in Cathedral City.The suspect, Gabriel Hernandez, 24, is wanted for fatally shooting Ruben Hernandez, 43, and injuring his 11-year-old daughter, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.On March 23, 2020, Gabriel and another suspect, Josue Agustin Sanchezcasas, 27, believed a person who lived in the victims’ home was responsible for the 2019 murder of their friend in La Quinta.Sanchezcasas drove Gabriel to the victims’ home.Gabriel stepped out of the vehicle, went up to the house and tried to get in, authorities said. When he couldn’t enter, he fired several gunshots through a metal security door. The victims were both struck by the gunfire. Ruben was pronounced dead at the scene, while his daughter was transported to the hospital where she survived.Victims Ruben Hernandez, 43, and his 11-year-old daughter with family members. (Hernandez Family)Ruben and his dau...

Meta exposes foreign plot to divide Americans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:24 GMT

Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarizing political content in an apparent effort to divide the U.S. ahead of next year's elections, Meta said Thursday.The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was attempting to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The accounts sported fake photos, names and locations as a way to appear like everyday American Facebook users weighing in on political issues.Instead of spreading fake content as other networks have done, the accounts were used to reshare posts from X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that were created by politicians, news outlets and others. The interconnected accounts pulled content from both liberal and conservative sources, an indication that its goal was not to support one side or the other but to exaggerate partisan divisions...