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Ex-El Salvador President Mauricio Funes sentenced to 14 years for negotiating with gangs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A judge sentenced former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes to 14 years in prison Monday for negotiating with gangs during his administration.Funes’ trial began in April with the former leader living in Nicaragua. El Salvador changed its laws last year to allow trials in absentia.Prosecutors had accused Funes of illicit association and failure to perform his duties for the gang truce negotiated in 2012. Funes had denied negotiating with the gangs or giving their leaders any privileges.Funes’ former Security Minister Gen. David Munguía Payes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in the negotiations.Funes’ sentence was the sum of eight years for illicit association and six years for failure to perform duties.Prosecutors say the gang negotiations were aimed at getting the country’s powerful street gangs to lower the homicide rate in exchange for benefits to the gangs’ imprisoned leaders.El Salvador has pursued Funes, 64, who go...

Minister reviewing CBC’s mandate with eye to making it less reliant on advertising

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hinting that the Liberal government’s online news bill could help the national public broadcaster become less reliant on advertising dollars. Rodriguez says he has begun reviewing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, including ways the government can provide more funds to the public broadcaster. Rodriguez’s mandate letter from the prime minister says the goal in providing more money is to eliminate advertising during news and other public affairs shows.During a House of Commons heritage committee meeting today, Rodriguez says the the CBC will financially benefit from passage of the online news act, also known as C-18.The bill, being studied in the Senate, would require tech giants to pay Canadian media companies for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.The parliamentary budget officer released a report last year that shows news businesses are expected to receive over $300 million annually from digital platfor...

Man charged in Ohio slaying of 4, wounding of girl, now charged in 2013 New Jersey killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A man charged in an Ohio shooting that killed four people and injured a child earlier this year has now been charged in a slaying in New Jersey a decade ago, authorities said.Martin Muniz, 41, was charged in Cuyahoga County in January with multiple counts of aggravated murder as well as attempted murder, assault and other charges in a shooting in Cleveland in January.Prosecutors in Camden County, New Jersey, said last week that after his arrest in Cleveland, Muniz “provided information” that resulted in New Jersey prosecutors charging him with first-degree murder in the October 2013 slaying of 45-year-old Jaime Molina in Camden. The (Cherry Hill) Courier-Post reports that a weapon seized from Muniz during a December 2013 arrest matched a shell casing found near Molina’s body, according to a probable cause statement in support of the New Jersey charge. Muniz is being held in lieu of $5 million bond in the Jan. 13 slayings in Ohio. Cleveland police alleged in...

Nun whose body shows little decay since 2019 death draws hundreds to rural Missouri

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

Hundreds of people flocked to a small town in Missouri this week and last to see a Black nun whose body has barely decomposed since 2019. Some say it’s a sign of holiness in Catholicism, while others say the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think.Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was exhumed in April, according to a statement from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri. The nuns had been preparing for the addition of a St. Joseph shrine, and that involved “the reinterment of the remains of our beloved foundress, Sister Wilhelmina,” the statement said.When they exhumed Lancaster, they were told to expect only bones, since she had been buried in a simple wooden coffin without any embalming four years ago.Instead, they discovered an intact body and “a perfectly preserved religious habit,” the statement said. The nuns hadn’t meant to publicize the discovery, but someone posted a private email publicly and “the news began to spread l...

Texas firefighter stabbed while fighting blazes along interstate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas firefighter was stabbed in the thigh early Monday morning by a man accused of starting the multiple fires firefighters were putting out along Interstate 35 in Austin, authorities said.Austin Fire Department shift commander Eddie Martinez told the Austin American-Statesman that the firefighter’s injuries weren’t life-threatening.Martinez said the man accused of starting the fires had walked onto the interstate, and as firefighters tried to remove him from the roadway, he became agitated and stabbed the firefighter.The fire department said on Twitter that the injured firefighter was treated at a hospital and released and that now “he’s home and doing ok.”Fire officials say the suspect was arrested on the scene.Authorities did not immediately say what object the firefighter was stabbed with.Lanes on Interstate 35 near the incident were closed for a time but had reopened by 5:45 a.m.The Associated Press

South America’s presidents gather in Brazil for first regional summit in 9 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — South America’s leaders will gather in Brazil’s capital on Tuesday as part of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s attempt to reinvigorate regional integration efforts that have previously floundered amid the continent’s political swings and polarization.Analysts say Lula senses an opportunity for integration because of the political affinities of the region’s current governments and appears to want to test leaders’ willingness to cooperate through a revived Union of South American Nations, or Unasur.First established 15 years ago in Brazil’s capital during the second presidential term of Lula, a former trade unionist, the regional bloc sought to integrate the 12 South American nations culturally, socially, politically and economically. Unasur’s promotor was late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who saw it as means to counteract U.S. influence in the region and the group had a reputation among some as having a lefti...

Two 2-years-olds among 48 shot across Chicago over holiday weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

CHICAGO — At least 48 people were shot across Chicago over the holiday weekend — including three teenagers and two toddlers.Of the 48 shootings, nine victims died from their injures.According to police, two 2-year-old children were shot in separate accidental incidents on Saturday evening.One of the shootings happened in the 7900 block of South Hermitage just before 11 p.m. and another occurred in the 1500 block of West Jonquil Terrace around 6 p.m. Saturday. Both incidents involved the children accidentally discharging a firearm they were playing with.One victim was struck in the forearm and the other was struck in the hand. Both were transported to an area hospital in fair condition. At least 41 shot, 9 dead over Memorial Day weekend as Johnson urges City to work together These two incidents are part of a list of more than 40 shootings since around 5 p.m. Friday.The weekend violence began Friday evening with shots fired at North Avenue Beach. The shootings continued throughout t...

Memorial Day commemoration held in Grant Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

CHICAGO — On this Memorial Day, local officials gathered in Chicago's Grant Park to remember the nation's fallen heroes. The solemn commemoration was held Monday under the General John Logan statue and memorial at 900 South Michigan Avenue.Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and other leaders were in attendance. The event included a wreath laying and rifle salute.WGN Reporter Sean Lewis has the more details in the video player above.

Monday Forecast: Temps in mid 80s with partly cloudy conditions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

CHICAGO — Mostly sunny conditions Monday and cooler by the lake. Winds: ENE 5-10 G15. High: 83/72.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog Partly cloudy tonight. Winds: ENE 5-10. Low: 59.Tuesday Forecast: Partly cloudy Tuesday with 20% shower chance, cooler lakeside. Winds: E 5-10. High: 87/75.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Supreme Court preview: the major decisions still to come

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:21 GMT

(The Hill) – The Supreme Court’s decision season is in full swing.The justices in the coming weeks will hand down major rulings on student debt relief, affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act, with opinions in 30 remaining cases expected to be released by June 30.  Here’s a preview of the major decisions.Student Debt ReliefThe fate of President Biden’s student debt relief plan rests with the justices, who are weighing two separate challenges: one from six Republican-led states, the other from two individual borrowers.At stake is whether more than 40 million Americans will receive debt relief — as well as a major Biden campaign promise.The plan, currently on hold, would cancel up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers, if the individual’s income is less than $125,000. The income limit is doubled for married couples.The conservative-majority court during February’s oral argument cast doubt that the administration had the autho...