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Father of Palestinian boy, 6, killed in alleged hate crime in Illinois files wrongful death lawsuit: 'I lost my everything'
CHICAGO — Odai Alfayoumi struggled to find words Friday when asked how he is doing a month and a half after the death of his son, Wadee Alfayoumi, the Palestinian 6-year-old boy stabbed to death in Plainfield Township in what police call a hate crime.
“What can I say,” he told the Tribune. “I lost my everything. My life. My son. My job....Read more

'We each have a battle and mine is staying here': Haiti doctor is finalist for peace award
In Haiti, where the battle against the virus that causes AIDS has been hard fought, Dr. Marie-Marcelle H. Deschamps knows that women are key: give a woman a job, she once said, and watch her not only take charge of her life but also cut HIV transmission.
That philosophy, which Deschamps shared with first lady Laura Bush in 2008 as she visited ...Read more

4 student suicides in less than two months send shocks through Boise schools. 'It's terrifying'
BOISE, Idaho -- It was mid-November, and hundreds of candles flickered on the Hillside Junior High School field where eighth grader Kade Parrish once played baseball.
Students, parents and community members were gathered at a candlelight vigil to grieve the loss of at least the fourth Boise School District student to die by suicide since the ...Read more

Lawmakers want $26 billion for programs the Pentagon didn't seek
WASHINGTON — House and Senate appropriators have added into their two fiscal 2024 Defense spending bills a combined $25.7 billion the Pentagon did not formally seek for more than 1,200 research and procurement projects, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis of a watchdog group’s previously undisclosed database.
The House-passed Defense ...Read more

SpaceX Carries South Korea's First Spy Satellite to Orbit
One of Elon Musk’s rockets carried a South Korean spy satellite into orbit as the rivalry between the two Koreas expands beyond Earth.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Seoul’s first domestically made reconnaissance satellite launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:19 a.m. PST Friday, according to South Korea’s defense...Read more

Ammon Bundy 'in hiding' after losing Idaho home, websites in legal battle with St. Luke's
BOISE, Idaho — St. Luke’s has won significant battles recently in its fight against far-right activist Ammon Bundy.
The health system, which won a defamation case against Bundy and one of his associates this year, has taken ownership of his Emmett property and house — after a judge voided a sale Bundy made to another associate — and ...Read more

Trump denied immunity against US election subversion charges
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute presidential immunity against criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday rejected Trump’s early efforts to get the federal indictment in Washington tossed out, including his contention ...Read more

US Navy, UK, Australia will test AI system to help crews track Chinese submarines in the Pacific
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and two of its closest partners are set to test a new way to track Chinese submarines using artificial intelligence.
Crews flying Pacific missions on the U.S. Navy’s top maritime surveillance and attack aircraft will be using AI algorithms to rapidly process sonar data gathered by underwater devices of the U.S., U.K. ...Read more

2 get probation after pleading guilty to burning down a Wendy's in Atlanta after Rayshard Brooks' death
ATLANTA — Two co-defendants pleaded guilty to arson charges for burning down a southwest Atlanta Wendy’s during the protests following Rayshard Brooks’ shooting death in June 2020, while a third defendant is scheduled to go on trial next week despite being in federal prison.
Chisom Kingston and Natalie Hanna White each entered negotiated ...Read more

Timeline of George Santos' scandals leading to his historic expulsion from Congress
Former Congressman George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives Friday in a bipartisan vote that followed a House Committee on Ethics report claiming the Queens native deceived donors and “ blatantly stole from his campaign.”
Allegations about the 35-year-old Republican’s checkered past were brought to light by a damning ...Read more

SEC, DOJ officials' past handling of Sen. Robert Menendez talks under NJ review
WASHINGTON — The New Jersey attorney general’s office is reviewing the conduct of two law enforcement officials as part of a probe sparked by the federal bribery case against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Gurbir Grewal, the enforcement chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Andrew Bruck, a top official at the Department of ...Read more

Protester sets self on fire outside Israeli Consulate in Atlanta; guard burned
ATLANTA — A protester set themselves on fire Friday afternoon outside a Midtown Atlanta building, suffering critical injuries and also injuring a security guard, police and fire officials said.
Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum called the incident outside the Israeli Consulate building at 1100 Spring Street an “extreme act of political ...Read more

George Santos' constituents cheer his expulsion: 'This creep is no longer my congressman'
NEW YORK — Cheerful constituents of ex-Rep. George Santos celebrated his expulsion from Congress on Friday, letting out a collective sigh of relief after 11 months of being represented by the truth-challenged 35-year-old Republican.
Around the corner from Santos’ darkened district office in the rain-slicked Douglaston section of Queens, ...Read more
'Unusual' ancient graves found near Arctic, but no remains discovered inside, study says
Just south of the Arctic Circle, within the vast forests of northern Finland, lies a sandy field dotted with dozens of “unusual” pits.
Workers stumbled upon the site, known as Tainiaro, six decades ago, and since then, its origins have remained elusive.
But now, upon conducting a comprehensive analysis of the site, researchers have ...Read more

Search warrant reveals more details of battery accusation against Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler
ORLANDO, Fla. — A search warrant affidavit released Friday sheds more light on the sexual battery accusations Christian Ziegler is facing amid growing bipartisan calls that he should quit his job as Florida’s Republican Party chair.
The allegations are being brought by a woman who says she had a previous consensual sexual encounter that ...Read more

Missouri sees alarming rise in sleep-related deaths and fentanyl poisonings among kids
ST. LOUIS — State officials are warning of two alarming trends in the deaths of Missouri children: increasing numbers of infants suffocated during sleep, and children accidentally poisoned by fentanyl.
The findings from 2022 were released this week in the annual Missouri Child Fatality Review Program report compiled by the Missouri Department...Read more

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor dies at 93
History-making Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the first woman on the nation’s highest court in 1981 and spent the next quarter-century as a pivotal figure in an oft-divided panel, has died. She was 93.
The jurist’s cause of death was listed as “complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, ...Read more
News briefs
Trump loses immunity fight in appeal over Jan. 6 civil cases
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump isn’t currently entitled to absolute immunity against civil lawsuits seeking to hold him responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, a federal appeals court ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. ...Read more

Teachers in Florida district can use students' preferred pronouns with parent OK, superintendent says
ORLANDO, Fla. — Public school teachers in Orange County will be able to use transgender students’ preferred pronouns if parents provide written permission, despite the state’s refusal to clarify whether such a policy is legal.
Orange County Public Schools’ new guidance comes after months of discussion and debate and will be shared with ...Read more

White House says Israel 'mindful' of need to protect civilians
WASHINGTON — Israel acknowledged the need to be careful about protecting civilians in its discussions with the U.S., National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, as fighting resumed in Gaza.
Kirby said the U.S. continues to support Israel, and Hamas remains a “legitimate target,” but the U.S. wants to ensure the offensive against ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Appeals court affirms conviction, sentence in Jussie Smollett case
- House expels NY Rep. George Santos after fraud indictment
- Trump loses immunity fight in appeal over Jan. 6 civil cases
- Ammon Bundy 'in hiding' after losing Idaho home, websites in legal battle with St. Luke's
- South Florida's HIV dilemma: How to prevent babies from being born with the disease