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Historic, spirited Blairsville offers an endless supply of Georgia’s mountain culture

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

BLAIRSVILLE, Ga. — Spring had come to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The rhododendron and mountain laurel were popping out in unreal shades of pink, and the massive hardwoods of birch and maple only recently bare-leafed in winter had begun their seasonal metamorphoses with emerald-green new growth. Somewhere in those forest-covered North Georgia mountains, slumbering bears were just waking from their hibernation.With drowsy bears foremost in mind, one of the first questions that my husband and I asked when we checked into Misty Mountain Inn and Cottages near the Blue Ridge town of Blairsville was if any of the ursine beasts lurked around.Bill Walsh, who owns the inn and cottages with his wife, Sarah, said that a few bears are sometimes seen around the property but they were small, with the further explanation, “They’re nothing like the larger bears in the higher elevations. You have nothing to worry about.”The view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest mounta...

Amy Reichert announces bid for Fletcher's District Four seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Another candidate has thrown their hat into the race for Supervisor Nathan Fletcher's District Four seat, shortly after the Board of Supervisors voted to pursue a special election to fill the impending vacancy.Amy Reichert, who ran against Fletcher as a Republican in last year's election, announced that she would be seeking the seat again."I am excited to officially announce my candidacy for the County Board of Supervisors," she said in a press release. "I am committed to rebuilding the trust in our elected officials and strengthening our communities. It's time we give them the leadership they deserve."Reichert is the third candidate to launch a campaign for the District Four seat, following non-profit CEO, Janessa Goldbeck, and San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery-Steppe.After Fletcher's resignation announcement, Reichert was considered a likely candidate for a special election. However, she told FOX 5 last month that she was waiting until the Board of Superv...

Vatican No 2 confirms Russia-Ukraine peace mission plans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Holy See’s No. 2 official confirmed Wednesday the existence of a Vatican peace “mission” to try to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, days after Pope Francis raised eyebrows with an offhand revelation of a secret operation that was already underway.Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, expressed surprise that officials in both Russia and Ukraine claimed ignorance of the Vatican initiative when they were asked about Francis’ comments. Speaking on the sidelines of a book launch Wednesday, Parolin said that both capitals had been informed, Vatican News reported.“Based on my knowledge, they know, but you know how it is, in bureaucracies it could be that communications that are supposed to arrive don’t arrive,” Parolin was quoted as saying. “These are just my interpretations, but I know that both parties were informed.”Francis revealed the existence of a Vatican “mission” on Sunday night during a news conference en route home from a ...

Ancient Knights of Malta get their 1st non-aristocratic head

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

ROME (AP) — A Canadian lawyer who found his vocation caring for AIDS patients in Harlem was elected the grand master of the Knights of Malta on Wednesday, the first non-European and first non-aristocratic head of the ancient lay Catholic order that provides humanitarian aid around the world.John Dunlap, 66, was elected by an absolute majority of 99 voting members of a Knights body known as “the council complete of state.” He immediately informed Pope Francis of his election and was sworn in during a pomp-filled ceremony and procession Wednesday at the Knights’ magnificent villa on Rome’s Aventine hill.The election brings a hoped-for end to a tumultuous few years during which Francis intervened to remove a previous grand master as a result of a governance crisis. Francis then imposed a new set of constitutional reforms on the order, and appointed Dunlap as interim head, in ways that critics said threatened its sovereignty.The Knights of Malta is an ancient chivalric order and soverei...

Iowa Democrats’ plan: Hold 1st caucuses, report votes later

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democrats are proposing a novel way to get around their demotion from the leadoff spot on the party’s presidential nominating calendar: They would still put on the first-in-the-nation caucuses but would be open to withholding the results until after other states have their contests.The creative approach is the latest effort by the Iowa Democratic Party to claw back the prized slot it held for nearly 50 years, until chaos during the state’s 2020 presidential caucuses led the Democratic National Committee to reorder the calendar.Iowa Democrats say the plan demonstrates their willingness to work with the DNC on its new voting calendar, which elevates South Carolina as the first voting state for 2024 and drops Iowa out of the top five voting states.“This flexibility is purposeful,” Iowa Democratic Chair Rita Hart said, describing the scenario of holding the caucuses first, with the option of reporting the results after other states report theirs. A spokesman...

New Mexico St player: ‘First it hurts, then it changes you’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

He came to New Mexico State to play basketball, maybe even live out a dream. On Wednesday, former Aggies basketball player Deuce Benjamin, flanked by his father and a former teammate, broke down as he shared the impact of his brief, troubling stay on the team.“First it hurts, then it changes you,” Benjamin said, while choking back tears that eventually would start flowing. “There’s a part of me that hasn’t been the same.”Benjamin and former Aggie Shak Odunewu held a news conference on the edge of NMSU’s campus in Las Cruces to discuss the lawsuit they filed alleging teammates ganged up and sexually assaulted them multiple times, while their coaches and others at the school didn’t act when confronted with the allegations.The players, their attorneys and Benjamin’s dad, William, an Aggie Hall of Famer who also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, spent nearly an hour detailing the ways the university failed the students.“My child has been failed. My family has ...

Stock market today: Markets are mixed after Fed’s rate hike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its latest hike to interest rates but hinted the end to them may be near. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in late trading, and it drifted between modest gains and losses immediately after the Fed’s announcement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 158 points, or 0.5%, at 33,526, as of 3:28 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was virtually flat. The move was widely expected, and it’s supposed to slow the economy further in hopes of getting inflation under control. The hope on Wall Street is that this is the final increase following the Fed’s fastest flurry in decades. The central bank gave a nod toward the possibility in its statement, where it dropped a reference saying it “anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate.” “That’s a meaningful change,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. But the Fed stopped short of declaring the end to rate hikes, which ...

California companies pay higher taxes for unemployment debt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — One potential consequence of California’s ballooning budget deficit: Higher taxes for businesses, with increases possible every year for the next decade.Business owners pay a tax on each of their workers. The money goes into a fund that states use to pay unemployment benefits when people lose their jobs. During the coronavirus pandemic, so many people lost jobs that many of these funds ran out of money.Twenty-two states borrowed from the federal government so they could keep paying unemployment benefits. Those states must pay that money back, plus interest. Most states have already done this. But California is one of five states that hasn’t. The state owes $18.9 billion.If California doesn’t pay the money back, businesses have to do it through higher taxes. California was supposed to start paying off the debt this year with $1.5 billion — $1 billion toward the debt, plus another $500 million to help small businesses pay their increased tax...

Ex-UN food chief returns to South Carolina roots for speech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For the first time in 25 years, former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley stood before lawmakers in his home state and gave a speech Wednesday. His wasn’t a look back at old times, but a talk about his second career — combatting world hunger.While he shook hands and swapped stories, Beasley has moved on. Since then he has been instrumental in securing a Nobel Peace Prize for the United Nations World Food Program, which has saved millions around the globe from starvation.The Republican whose political career appeared to tank after he lost a reelection bid in 1998 only briefly mentioned that part of his life. Instead, he talked about his second career leading the World Food Program. He worked there for six years, appointed by Donald Trump and continuing under President Joe Biden before stepping aside last month.Beasley told legislators — just 11 of the 170 of them were serving when he last addressed them at his 1998 State of the State speech — to hang on to ...

Wrongfully convicted Massachusetts man gets $13M settlement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:19:27 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man who spent 32 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed eight people will receive $13 million from the city where he was arrested.Victor Rosario, 65, said Wednesday he has forgiven those who put him behind bars.“One of the things for me to be able to continue moving forward is basically to learn how to forgive,” he said at a news conference the day after the Lowell City Council voted to settle a $13 million civil rights lawsuit he brought against the city.Rosario was 24 years old when he was convicted of arson and multiple counts of murder in connection with the 1982 fire in Lowell, Massachusetts. Three adults and five children died in the fire.Rosario tried to help the victims escape the flames, his attorneys said.But investigators identified Rosario as a suspect, and then fabricated evidence and hid evidence that the fire was actually an accident, attorney Mark Loevy-Reyes said.“They brought Victor Rosari...