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To mask or not to mask? Biden goes both ways after first lady tests positive for COVID-19

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden turned up in a mask for the first time in months on Tuesday, a day after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. But the president quickly ditched it during a ceremony honoring an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran, and the two unmasked octogenarians shared a hearty handshake before they parted.The White House had said earlier that Biden, who had tested negative for the virus earlier in the day, would wear a mask indoors, but that he might remove it when standing at a distance from others.The reality looked somewhat different from the promised protocol, a reflection of how messy coronavirus precautions can become at a time when the national emergency has ended and so have mask mandates, but new waves of the virus are cresting. Hospitalizations are up, but not like they were before, and doctors are hoping to get more shots in arms next month when a new booster becomes available. Biden and Capt. Larry Taylor, who both took off their masks after entering t...

Georgia can resume enforcing ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender youth, judge says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia can resume enforcing a ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender people under 18, a judge ruled Tuesday, putting her previous order blocking the ban on hold after a federal appeals court allowed Alabama to enforce a similar restriction.Attorneys for the state had asked Judge Sarah Geraghty to vacate the preliminary injunction in light of the Alabama decision.Geraghty did not go that far, but she also said keeping her injunction in place was not possible after last month’s ruling on Alabama’s law by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Georgia. She instead issued a stay, or hold, on her injunction in anticipation of a possible rehearing of the Alabama case before a larger panel of the court’s judges.The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to a spokeswoman for the Georgia attorney general’s office. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the Georgia case said they would comment later Tuesday.The 1...

Minnesota seeks unifying symbol to replace state flag considered offensive to Native Americans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A state commission went to work Tuesday on designing a new state flag and seal for Minnesota to replace a current emblem in both that’s considered offensive to Native Americans.One of the main elements of Minnesota’s state flag includes a prominent state seal against a blue background. The seal depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump. The imagery suggests to many that the Indigenous people were defeated and going away, while whites won and were staying. Not only do the state’s Dakota and Ojibwe tribes consider that offensive, but experts in the scientific and scholarly study of flags — known as vexillology — say it’s an overly complicated design. Guidelines from the North American Vexillological Association say flags should be simple but meaningful, with just a few colors, easily recognizable from a distance, and without seals or lettering. The assoc...

Tropical Storm Lee forms in Atlantic, forecast to become major hurricane heading to the Caribbean

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Lee formed Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean and was forecast to become a major hurricane as it approaches the Caribbean, forecasters said.The storm was located some 1,315 miles (2,115) kilometers east of the Lesser Antilles late Tuesday afternoon. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 Kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.It was forecast to strengthen into an “extremely dangerous” hurricane by Friday as it moves over very warm waters and pass just northeast of the Caribbean region, the center said.Preliminary forecasts are not predicting any landfall, although the center warned that “it is too early to determine exactly how close this system will be to the Leeward Islands.”Lee is the twelfth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.In August, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration updated its forecast and warned that t...

Design approved for memorial to the victims and survivors of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The permanent memorial to the victims and survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history will feature 58 candle-like beams under a plan officials in Las Vegas approved Tuesday.With the design officially in place, Clark County commissioners will shift their focus to selecting a nonprofit that will oversee fundraising and the construction and maintenance of the project. It took years to get to this point in the process and could take years more before the memorial is unveiled at the site of the attack on the Las Vegas Strip.The commissioners voted unanimously to proceed with the design recommended by the 1 October Memorial Committee, which was formed in 2019 to develop a design concept. The committee, which was dissolved Tuesday after commissioners voted, included a survivor and the sister of one of the 60 people who were killed in the October 2017 shooting.“We are grateful to the design teams, family members, survivors and everyone who participat...

India envoy ‘very satisfied’ by Canada response to threats by Sikh separatist groups

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

OTTAWA — India’s envoy to Canada says he is satisfied the federal government is adequately protecting his country’s diplomats, after New Delhi raised concerns for their safety earlier this year.Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma also says he’s optimistic both countries can circumvent heated diaspora politics to form closer ties.“Freedom has both sides of the coin, and it’s a delicate balance, which has to be maintained by society,” Verma told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview Aug. 31.Canada and India have disagreed for years about Ottawa’s response to a long-standing Indian separatist movement that has supporters across this country but things escalated earlier this year when police were asked to investigate alleged death threats against Indian diplomats in Canada.Those threats arose following the murder of a gurdwara leader in Surrey, B.C., which some in the Sikh community say was a politically motivated attack.Police ...

United Airlines says the outage that held up departing flights was not a cybersecurity issue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

United Airlines said Tuesday that a software update triggered a glitch that forced it to halt departures nationwide, briefly crippling one of the nation’s biggest carriers on a busy travel day.Federal officials said United crews had been unable to contact airline dispatchers through normal means. “A software update caused a widespread slowdown in United’s technology systems,” United said in a statement. The airline said it was not a cybersecurity issue.The Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the nation’s airspace, said United asked it to stop the airline’s departures nationwide. The FAA said the issue was limited to United and its subsidiaries. The ground stop — it did not affect planes already in the air, United said — lasted a little more than an hour.By late afternoon Tuesday on the East Coast, United had canceled only seven flights, well below its average of about 16 per day over the busy Labor Day weekend, according to figures from tracking service FlightAwa...

Joe Jonas files for divorce from Sophie Turner, marriage 'irretrievably broken'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

(KTLA) – It's over for Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner. Jonas has reportedly filed for divorce from the "Game of Thrones" actress after four years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by Today.com and PEOPLE, Jonas filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on Tuesday in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The document states "the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken." Smash Mouth front man Steve Harwell dead at 56, band confirms It was noted that the pair have a prenuptial agreement. Joe Jonas, left, and Sophie Turner arrive at the second annual Academy Museum gala at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Oct. 15, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)The petition also mentions that the couple's two children have been living with Jonas in Miami and other cities throughout the country. Jonas is currently on tour with his brothers. However, the documents read that "it is in the best interests of the minor children that the parties have shared...

Connor Bedard takes another step toward making his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — When the Chicago Blackhawks selected Connor Bedard with the first pick in the draft earlier this summer, the player considered hockey's next superstar slipped on his new team's jersey over a dress shirt and tie.Bedard got his latest welcome-to-the-NHL moment Tuesday, skating around on the ice in the Blackhawks' home red jersey and his new team's full gear for the first time at the Players' Association's rookie showcase. From the draft through development camp and signing his entry-level contract on his birthday, the event was Bedard's latest step toward making his pro debut.“Just to be with this organization and city and everything, it’s a dream come true,” Bedard said. “Growing up watching them and seeing kind of their (Stanley Cup) runs was pretty cool, so to put the jersey on is really special.”Just like Bedard wouldn't say anything publicly about going to Chicago until general manager Kyle Davidson called his name, th...

RSV rising in one US region, CDC issues alert

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Respiratory syncytial virus – better known by the acronym RSV – is rising in some southeastern U.S. states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday, signaling the virus could begin spreading widely nationwide soon. RSV causes cold-like symptoms for most people, but can be scary for infants, young children, elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. The virus kills between 100 and 300 children under 5 and as many as 10,000 people over 65 annually, according to CDC estimates. Other than a few atypical years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the RSV season usually starts in fall and peaks in winter. The virus also has a history of starting to spread in Florida, before spreading to other southeastern states, then eventually northward and westward. That appears to be the case again this year. In recent weeks more patients have been testing positive for the virus in Florida and Georgia, the CDC said in an alert issued Tuesday. 26 states se...