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Idaho bill to execute inmates by firing squad clears Legislature, heads to governor

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BOISE, Idaho — Idaho is poised to become the fifth U.S. state to approve prisoner executions by firing squad after the proposed law cleared the Legislature on Monday on its way to the governor’s desk.

House Bill 186, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, and Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, passed the Senate by a 24-11 vote. The bill would ...Read more

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Couple sentenced to prison in notorious San Jose baby kidnapping

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — A woman and her boyfriend were sentenced to prison Monday in the April kidnapping of a San Jose infant, drawing to a close a case that drew national notoriety because of its apparent motive — the woman’s desire to fool another extramarital lover into believing the baby was theirs — and its overlap with the alleged ...Read more

Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

COVID-19 report based on China samples puts suspicion back to animal origins

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A new analysis of samples taken from a market in Wuhan, China, during the early days of the pandemic are the strongest evidence yet that the COVID-19 virus jumped from animals to humans, some researchers say.

The samples found evidence of the presence of the novel coronavirus along with genetic material from multiple animals — including ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California town engulfed in floodwater. But residents fear what will happen if they flee

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ALLENSWORTH, Calif. — A pool of floodwater covered Perla Estrada’s front yard. She walked in sandals through the muddy water.

Estrada said she’s worried that water from a coming storm could climb higher toward the doorstep of her mobile home.

“We don’t see a solution,” Estrada said, adding that she has been asking local emergency ...Read more

JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Moderna paid the US more than enough for COVID shot partnership, executive says

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WASHINGTON — Moderna Inc. plans to tell U.S. lawmakers that it more than adequately compensated the government for its role in a COVID-19 vaccine partnership that brought the drugmaker billions of dollars, a central point in what’s likely to be a heated Capitol Hill hearing this week.

The U.S. invested $1.5 billion to help fund Moderna’s...Read more

ANATOLIY ZHDANOV/Getty Images North America/TNS

Putin tells Xi he'll discuss China's blueprint for Ukraine

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Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to discuss China’s initiative for ending the conflict in Ukraine, welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping for a three-day visit that underlines Beijing’s support for Moscow.

“We’ve carefully studied your proposals to resolve the acute crisis in Ukraine,” Putin told Xi in televised comments at the ...Read more

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America/TNS

House Republicans demand answers from Manhattan DA over Trump case

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WASHINGTON — Republican leaders on Monday demanded that the Manhattan district attorney sit for an interview and provide documents as they began an investigation into his prosecution of Donald Trump over hush payments to an adult film star.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and two other committee chairmen sent a letter to Alvin ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Idaho Republicans reject 'liberal' policy for free menstrual products in public schools

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BOISE, Idaho — Idaho House Republicans Monday rejected a bill that would have funded free menstrual products in public school girls bathrooms. GOP House members said the proposal was “liberal,” and they objected to “woke” terms describing inaccessibility to tampons and pads.

House Bill 313, sponsored by Reps. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

DOJ asks Supreme Court to review domestic violence gun ruling

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that struck down a federal law that prohibits gun possession for individuals under domestic violence restraining orders.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in February based its decision on a Supreme Court case from last year that ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS/TNS

Cases of deadly, drug-resistant fungal infection on the rise, CDC says

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Monday that cases of Candida auris, or C. auris — a potentially deadly and drug-resistant fungal infection — are on the rise at U.S. health-care facilities.

New CDC data published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine showed that the number of infections has grown since it was ...Read more

Alex Wong/HODELETE60/TNS

Signature Bank threw a fundraiser for the congressman now probing how it failed

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WASHINGTON — Ten days before Signature Bank collapsed, the House Republican overseeing an inquiry into the bank’s failure was inside its boardroom on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Patrick McHenry was there to raise thousands of dollars from bank executives.

The mood inside the Signature boardroom at the March 2 fundraiser was calm, according ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Talks fail, LAUSD strike and school closures set for Tuesday

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LOS ANGELES — Last-minute talks failed to avert a Tuesday strike that will shut down Los Angeles public schools and lead to a massive disruption in the nation’s second-largest school system.

There had been some hope of averting the walkout based on the formal resumption Monday afternoon of discussions between the school district and the ...Read more

Palm Beach Post/Palm Beach Post/TNS

Bill allowing death penalty for child rapists in Florida gets bipartisan support

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A bill that would challenge existing Supreme Court precedent by allowing the death penalty for people who sexually batter young children moved through its first committee in the Florida Senate with a unanimous vote on Monday.

The bill challenges a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Kennedy v. Louisiana, that determined the death penalty could not ...Read more

Oxnard Police Department/Oxnard Police Department/TNS

Video shows police in California's Ventura County shoot and kill man who charged while shouting 'I hate pigs'

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LOS ANGELES — A man was shot and killed by Oxnard police this month after he charged them with a 5-foot metal pole and screamed, "I hate pigs," according to body camera footage released by the department.

Adam Barcenas, 60, was killed March 12 while three police officers were speaking to a person during a DUI traffic stop, police said Friday ...Read more

GoFundMe/GoFundMe/TNS

Unlicensed teen driver distracted or fell asleep in NY Hutchinson Parkway crash that killed him and 4 young relatives

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NEW YORK — A teenage driver with no license or learner’s permit was distracted or fell asleep behind the wheel of an SUV that crashed and caught fire on the Hutchinson River Parkway, killing him and four underage relatives, authorities said Monday.

There was no supervising adult in, near or trailing the Connecticut-bound Nissan Rogue that ...Read more

Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Is Trump going to be arrested? Answers to questions about the former president's legal troubles

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Former President Donald Trump set an unenviable record while occupying the White House, becoming the first president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

His legal troubles have only mounted since then.

On Saturday, Trump said on his social media network Truth Social that he will be arrested Tuesday in connection with a case ...Read more

Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Georgia lawyer convicted in Jan. 6 case

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday found Georgia attorney William McCall Calhoun, Jr., guilty of a felony obstruction charge and four misdemeanors related to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

Prosecutors charged Calhoun with obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony carrying up to 20 years in prison. But U.S. District ...Read more

Maria Dryfhout/Dreamstime/TNS

Canvassers eye big changes to Michigan petition signature review process

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LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Board of State Canvassers is contemplating changes to the state's rules regarding the review of voter signatures for changing state laws, amending the constitution or a candidate seeking to get on the ballot after a year of record demands on the Bureau of Elections.

The changes proposed by state elections ...Read more

Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Heavy rain to hit Southern California; thousands flee flooding in Central Valley

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LOS ANGELES — A weary, storm-soaked California is bracing for another bout of heavy rain, power outages and potential flooding this week as a cold weather system takes aim at the state.

Light rain was falling in many regions Monday, the first day of spring, with precipitation expected to gain strength early Tuesday and linger into Wednesday. ...Read more

News briefs

Current News / News & Features /

Illinois bakery in crosshairs over drag show event will likely be forced to close

CHICAGO — UpRising Bakery and Cafe announced that “horrific attacks” on the establishment dating back to last summer, including threats and vandalism that led up to a planned drag show in July, have forced the Lake in the Hills bakery to close its doors as ...Read more