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Biden is building his reelection bid around an organization Obama shunned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is staking his reelection bid on the political and financial muscle of the Democratic National Committee.As it prepares for a bruising 2024 contest, his campaign plans to raise and spend around $2 billion. But it will do so in coordination with the national and state Democratic parties, in an effort to establish a coordinated campaign around the country. The idea is to bolster field, volunteer and data organizations, and ensure they work jointly to promote Biden and down-ballot Democratic candidates.“The president is really rewriting the playbook when it comes to what a reelection campaign looks like and how we are in deep partnership with the DNC,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, “and will continue to show, by all metrics, that we’re running a successful campaign.” The strategy is different from the way the last Democratic president treated the DNC. Barack Obama largely shunned the party’s traditional fundraising ap...

Former Israeli principal will be sentenced in Australia next month for abusing 2 students

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A former principal of an Australian Jewish school will be sentenced on Aug. 24 on convictions for sexually abusing two students. Judge Mark Gamble set the date Friday after a third day of hearing submissions on what sentence Malka Leifer should receive following her convictions by a Victoria state jury in early April. Leifer’s sentencing is potentially the final chapter of an extended battle that tested Israeli-Australian relations to bring the 56-year-old Israeli citizen to justice.Leifer abused sisters Dassi Erlick and Elly Sapper between 2003 and 2007 while she was principal of Melbourne’s ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School for girls.Erlick was 14 and Sapper 12 when Leifer arrived at the school from Israel in 2000 first as a head of religion.The sisters told the court in victim impact statements last month that being sexually abused by Leifer broke their ability to trust and was painful to remember.The Associated Press does not usually identify victims ...

Music Review: ‘Barbie’ soundtrack delivers a dreamhouse of Kenergy and ballads alike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

“Barbie: The Album” by Various Artists (Atlantic/Warner/Mattel)The Barbie industrial complex has detonated, coating the planet in pink, sparkly fallout. For the blockbuster’s soundtrack, “Barbie: The Album,” film director Greta Gerwig and music producer Mark Ronson corralled a set of huge artists at the top of their games and have come away with a raucous, joyous and, occasionally, touching compilation.The soundtrack works because the contributors understood the assignment. Collectively, they deliver a dreamhouse of songs that are each at least a little better than they have to be. The tracks succeed both as cinematic elements and as standalone songs. The result is a worthy, danceable bookend to the classic “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack of a generation before.Director Greta Gerwig has now delivered small, medium, large and stratospheric films with excellent soundtracks. Her commitment to quirky rock songs and contemporary classical spans, with this latest endeavor, a whole...

A notorious Indonesian animal market has ended its brutal dog and cat meat trade, campaigners say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

TOMOHON, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities on Friday announced the end of the “brutally cruel” dog and cat meat slaughter at a notorious animal market on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi following a years-long campaign by local activists and world celebrities. The Tomohon Extreme Market will become the first such market in Indonesia to go dog and cat meat-free, according to the anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International, or HSI. Images of dogs and cats being bludgeoned and blow-torched while still alive had sparked outrage. The permanent end of the slaughter and trade was announced on Friday by the mayor of the city of Tomohon, Caroll Senduk. HSI said they will be rescuing all the remaining live dogs and cats from the slaughterhouse suppliers and taking them to sanctuaries.The Tomohon Extreme Market had previously been touted as a tourist attraction and listed on TripAdvisor as a destination that also sells cat meat and the carcasses of wild and protected species such as bat...

ILWU Local 502 says second tentative deal reached in B.C.’s port strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

The ongoing labour dispute at B.C.’s ports may be coming to an end.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 502 says on its website that its bargaining committee has reached a tentative agreement with the BC Maritime Employers Association.The union adds there will be a meeting held on Friday, to vote on whether the tentative deal will be sent to members for ratification.About 7,400 workers at about 30 B.C. ports walked off the job on July 1. While they returned on July 13 after a tentative deal was reached, they went back on the picket lines on Tuesday after the union’s caucus voted the deal down. But on Wednesday, the federal labour minister called the renewed strike action illegal and there’s been confusion over where things stand, ever since.Business groups have said the labour dispute has cost Canada’s economy billions of dollars.

Brother of murdered teenager arrested for killing the man once charged in her death 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Twenty-five-year-old Jacorren Riley is facing first-degree murder charges for an ostensible retaliation murder.Levi Henning had only been out of prison on bond for about a month before he was gunned down on June 22 near his home in the 5600 block of Bartmer Avenue."I've never had a client murdered, especially on his way to court,” said W. David Mueller, Henning’s attorney.On Wednesday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department arrested Riley for Henning's murder. Riley is the older brother of Carieal Doss, who was murdered three years ago. Henning was once charged with murder before the circuit attorney’s office under Kim Gardner dropped the case in March because of mishandled evidence. A case in which Henning’s attorney maintains his client’s innocence. Thieves target car washes, business owners band together to fight back "As we dove into defending Levi, every step we took we were able to demonstrate and show the evidence that was withheld for years was ...

Resolution supporting Black students in Francis Howell set to expire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

O'FALLON, Mo. - The Francis Howell Board of Education took action Thursday that’s expected to lead to the sunsetting of an anti-racism resolution passed in 2020. The board voted 5-2 in favor of sunsetting old resolutions if a majority of the current board did not vote in favor of them. The action allows for a 75-day window for the board to modify or renew the resolution.The action prompted sharp criticism from community members. The 2020 resolution declared support for Black students.The 2020 resolution was passed in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by police. Part of the resolution stated:“The Francis Howell School District Board of Education pledges to our learning community that we will speak firmly against any racism, discrimination, and senseless violence against people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ability.”Supporters of letting the resolution expire point to existing district polici...

Jefferson County officials still battling with major issues at Rockford Beach Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. - There's big news about a Jefferson County park known for drownings and river rescues.Authorities had closed Rockford Beach Park on the Big River in House Springs for the past two weekends after a July 3 drowning. The park has remained open on weekdays.After a man was rescued overnight, the beach will reopen this weekend. However, there will be a noticeable change.The rescue happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Chief John Barton of the High Ridge Fire Protection District.Barton said a man was curled up on a sort of rock shelf just above an area of rocky rapids. Missouri & Illinois players win $1M in record Powerball jackpot “He called for help rather than trying to swim back across the river. In that event, there’s a very good chance it could have been our second drowning this month,” he said. “There’s a lot of hidden dangers with the river. When you add nighttime to it, and we’re operating under flashlights trying to cross the river and get...

Stanford Law dean who confronted Trump judge steps down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

STANFORD UNIVERSITY — A Stanford Law School associate dean who went on leave following a tense exchange with a Trump-appointed judge at a campus event in March is stepping down from her role, the head of the school announced Thursday.Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach has decided to “pursue another opportunity,” Dean Jenny Martinez wrote in a letter to the law school community.“The law school wishes to express appreciation for Associate Dean Steinbach’s many contributions to the law school during her time here,” Martinez said. “In the nearly two years she served in the role, she did valuable work enhancing the sense of community and belonging at the law school and supporting students, staff, faculty and alums.”Martinez said she and Steinbach both hope the law school can move past the divisions caused by the event on March 9, when Stuart Kyle Duncan, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, was invited to speak to a conservative an...

Marin theater fully booked as Barbie fever hits Bay Area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:10 GMT

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) -- Barbie and Oppenheimer have movie theaters sold out across the Bay Area.The two movies -- despite their wildly different themes -- are creating quite a buzz. In fact, a family-owned theater in Tiburon is fully booked for the next three days for Barbie showings.Every showing of Barbie has been packed with people dressed up in pink. New Jollibee location set to open in East Bay The owners of Cinelounge at 40 Main St. say the Barbie buzz has been great for business. They haven't seen this level of excitement since they bought it.From Barbie-themed cocktails​ to Barbie swag, Cinelounge in Tiburon is decked out in pink. The theater is sold out three nights in a row for the movie's opening week.Oppenheimer will be playing there next week."The buzz between Barbie and Oppenheimer and the buzz to come back to the movie theater is really that sense of excitement that we haven't had since pre-pandemic days," said Cinelounge owner Christian Meoli.Movie theaters ...