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Iraqi immigrant pleads guilty in federal court in Oregon to supporting Islamic State

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An immigrant from Iraq pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Portland, Oregon, to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group by producing and distributing propaganda and recruiting materials online.Hawazen Sameer Mothafar, 33, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is scheduled to be sentenced on January 11 by U.S. District Court Judge Marco A. Hernández. Mothafar was arrested in November 2020 following an FBI investigation.The case underscores the Islamic State group’s focus on maintaining an online presence, or “digital caliphate,” after the group — also known as ISIS — lost most of its self-declared caliphate in territory it seized in Iraq and Syria by late 2017. “One of the primary mechanisms ISIS uses to threaten the West is its media outlets,” Christine Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in January. “The most prolific ISIS threat to the United States or other W...

Senate just barely confirms Bernstein as Biden’s economic adviser

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed Jared Bernstein to be the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.A longtime aide to President Joe Biden and an economist focused on workers, Bernstein was confirmed by a vote of 50-49. Republican lawmakers were critical of his claims early in the administration that the high inflation coming out of the pandemic was temporary. Rising costs for families and businesses have been a challenge for Biden, though the Labor Department said Tuesday that the pace of inflation fell in May to 4%, the lowest 12-month figure for consumer prices in more than 12 years.The Biden administration provided $1.9 trillion worth of pandemic relief in 2021, which some economists and Republican leaders say triggered inflation. Bernstein, then a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, defended the president for the job gains that occurred because of the government spending and said the high prices would be “transitory.” But b...

TTC commuters react to Pride chime at subway stations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has rolled out a new chime in celebration of Pride Month, but the release of the jingle isn’t going as planned, with commuters confused and taken aback by the sound.In late May, the TTC announced that “the sounds of Pride” would fill subway stations with the iconic TTC three-tone announcement chime to be performed by “Singing Out,” considered the city’s largest 2SLGBTQQIA+ community choir.It’s supposed to sound like this. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Singing Out (@singingoutlgbtq)Instead, many TTC riders have taken to social media to describe what they’re calling an awful sound, not at all in line with what is supposed to be a fun jingle.One person wrote, “The TTC sound is just awful. You have to get rid of this.”Another person tweeted, “What is this squawking sound in the TTC subway stations?” Those are only a few examples of Torontonians recently s...

Murder charge filed in Detroit-area teen’s death months after landfill search

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Prosecutors filed a murder charge Tuesday in the death of a teenager whose remains have not been found despite an extraordinary monthslong search last year at a suburban Detroit landfill.More than a dozen Detroit police officers wearing protective suits, respirators and goggles picked through tons of rotting summer trash for any trace of 17-year-old Zion Foster, a search that was finally halted in October. On Tuesday, Zion’s cousin, Jaylin Brazier, was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Brazier served a brief prison sentence last year after admitting he had lied to police during the investigation.Brazier, 24, has publicly said that Zion, who lived in Eastpointe, suddenly became unconscious while they were smoking marijuana at a Detroit house in January 2022. But he denied having any role in her death.“There is a compelling body of evidence” against Brazier, assistant prosecutor Ryan Elsey said in requesting that he be returned to jail ...

US administration argues against trial in case of Trump-era family separations at border with Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Despite President Joe Biden’s loathing of his predecessor’s practice of separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, his administration argued in federal court Tuesday that a lawsuit seeking money for five affected mothers and their children should be dismissed.Justice Department attorney Phil MacWilliams told U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton the claims were improper and the case shouldn’t be tried. He argued that the Yuma, Arizona-based Border Patrol agents involved used their discretion to separate the families, not a policy aimed at deterring migrants arrivals.Attorney Diana Reiter, representing the families, argued the case should go to trial because the separations were part of a bigger policy under then-President Donald Trump aimed at preventing migrants from arriving at the border. She noted that because the women were never prosecuted the separations were unnecessary. Bolton will issue a decision in the coming weeks.The U.S. government...

'Unfit for human habitation:' Some buildings at Merrillville apt. complex condemned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Concerns surrounding living conditions at a Northwest Indiana apartment complex continue to arise, less than a week after some residents were displaced following an inspection that revealed structural issues at the property.Signs posted on the property by the Lake County Health Department now read "unfit for human habitation" and indicate that residents are ordered to vacate the premises within ten days.Last Wednesday, the Hickory Ridge Apartments — located in the 1700 block of West 55th Avenue — were deemed unsafe by an inspector with the Merrillville Fire Department. According to Merrillville Fire Chief Edward Yerga, the inspector deemed the first building on the property unsafe due to structural integrity, while concerns were also raised about an adjacent building where water leaking and mold were consistent problems.Town officials said between the two buildings evacuated last week, there are 48 total units — with some being vacant, — but at least 12 families...

Man, woman in hospital after Waukegan double shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Two people are in the hospital after a double shooting in the far north suburbs.According to the Waukegan Police Department, they were called to the 2100 block of North Green Bay Road around 11:26 a.m. on a report of a double shooting.While in route to that location, officers found two shooting victims in the area of Glen Flora Avenue and Jackson Street in a red Jeep. A 22-year-old woman from Wadsworth was shot in her left arm and taken to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. A 23-year-old man from Gurnee suffered a graze wound to his back and was taken Vista Medical Center in Waukegan.Both victims injuries are considered non-life-threatening. No injuries reported after damage at South Shore apartment building According to information gathered by investigating officers, the two victims were parked in a parking lot in the 2100 block of North Green Bay Road next to another vehicle. After a short time, shots came from the other vehicle into the Jeep.Another vehicl...

Migrants moved from YMCA to Daley College after delays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

CHICAGO — The city has transferred three busloads of migrants from the city's North Side to the Southwest Side Tuesday evening.Migrants staying at the closed down YMCA in West Ridge were transferred to Daley College to make way for those staying at police stations. However, not all of the migrants are OK with this move.They have been housed at the YMCA at Touhy and Western since last fall. The YMCA shut down back in 2021, but has been set up to house the migrants who need shelter. Migrants move to Daley College further delayed Migrant children have been able to attend school in the neighborhood, but teachers, parents, and volunteers expressed their outrage over what they say would be entirely unnecessary and harmful decision to uproot the migrants families.The decision to transfer migrants from the YMCA to Daley College was postponed multiple times since Friday.Mayor Brandon Johnson released the following statement regarding the transfer of migrants on Tuesday:"To allow for a smoo...

'Dead' woman knocks on inside of coffin at wake: 'It gave us all a fright'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador astonished her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake, and the incident has prompted a government investigation into the hospital. Relatives left the coffin behind and rushed retired nurse Bella Montoya back to the hospital after the wake Friday in the central city of Babahoyo. Montoya was declared dead on Friday at Hospital Martín Icaza de Babahoyo, according to local outlet El Comercio. She had been initially diagnosed with a cerebrovascular accident and doctors weren't able to resuscitate her after she went into cardiorespiratory arrest, according to the Ministry of Public Health. The doctor on duty then pronounced her dead. These are the safest suburbs in 2023, study says. Did yours make the list? It wasn't until hours later when relatives were holding a wake for Montoya that they realized she wasn't dead.“There were about 20 of us there,” said her son, Gilberto Barbera, according to th...

College World Series: Plucky underdogs, national powers collide in America's heartland for national title

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The field is set and eight teams will go at it for college baseball's ultimate prize beginning June 16 at the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.With No. 8 Stanford's dramatic walk-off victory over Texas and Tennessee's triumph over Southern Miss on Monday night, there are five national seeds remaining and three others primed to make a Cinderella run to the championship. Fly ball lost in twilight gives Stanford berth in Men’s College World Series, ends Texas’ season Top-seeded Wake Forest and No. 2 Florida have played like the best teams in the country so far, but No. 5 Louisiana State, No. 7 Virginia and the No. 8 Cardinal also have aspirations of dogpiling in the middle of Charles Schwab Field Omaha.Oral Roberts, the last No. 4 seed from a regional to make the MCWS since Fresno State in 2008, is riding high after taking out Pac-12 tournament champion Oregon on their home turf — and perhaps there's still some magic left in the Golden Eagles. When Fresn...