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Ousted Black lawmaker Pearson will return to Tennessee House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

By Adrian Sainz | Associated PressMEMPHIS, Tenn. — Commissioners in Memphis voted Wednesday to reinstate one of two Black Democrats kicked out of the Republican-led Tennessee House.The Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted to send Justin Pearson back to the Legislature in Nashville.Republicans banished Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones last week over their role in a gun control protest on the House floor after a deadly school shooting.The Nashville Metropolitan Council took only a few minutes Monday to restore Jones to office. He was quickly reinstated to his House seat.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House could return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission vote Wednesday, nearly a week after their banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled them into the national spotlight.A Shelby County Board of Commissioners committee approved a re...

Here’s when Disneyland’s Splash Mountain is closing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

Disneyland’s iconic Splash Mountain ride, which has thrilled and soaked millions of parkgoers since 1989, will close for good on May 31, officials have announced.The closure allows work to begin on a new attraction —Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — which will remake the ride using the theme of the “Princess and the Frog” movie’s continuing story. The ride will also be remade at Walt Disney World. The Splash Mountain attraction in Florida closed in January.The Splash Mountain log flume ride opened in Disneyland’s Critter Country on July 17, 1989. Park designers reused animatronic creatures from the closed “America Sings” ride, and based them on sequences from the 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South,” also adding new characters such as Brer Bear, Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. In total, the ride has 103 creatures.Splash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Splash Mountain is a log flume based on the animated sequences of the 1946 Disney film So...

Middle Class Tax Refund: Early filers can amend 2022 returns to recoup taxes, IRS says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

The IRS reversed course this week, advising early tax filers who included the Middle Class Tax Refund as taxable income to recoup the money by amending their 2022 federal tax returns.The Internal Revenue Service issued an advisory Tuesday, April 11 regarding various tax refunds issued by 21 states, California among them.“Taxpayers who filed before Feb. 10 … should check their tax return to make sure they paid tax on a state refund before filing an amended return,” the IRS said.The agency also suggested taxpayers who worked with a tax preparer or accounting consult with them first to determine if an amended return is necessary.Just two months ago, the agency advised tax filers not to amend their 2022 returns.The MCTR was intended to be a stimulus payment for California residents who were paying more for just about everything thanks to record-high inflation. The Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom set aside $9 billion from the budget’s surplus in order to send taxpayers a “refund” rangi...

Road-rage shooter claimed out-of-body experience during killing of boy, wounding of 3 others, DA says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

Jeremy Webster (Westminster PD) The man accused of killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding three others in a road-rage shooting spree in Westminster. Colorado five years ago told police afterward that he’d watched himself carrying out the attack as though he were out of his body, prosecutors said at the start of his jury trial Wednesday.Jeremy Webster, 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and related counts in connection with the June 14, 2018, attack in the parking lot of a dentist’s office at the corner of West 80th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.Prosecutors with the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday rejected Webster’s claim that he was insane during the shooting and said he should be held criminally responsible for the crime.“Insanity is just an excuse,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Prince said during opening statements in Adams County District Court.The incident began when Megha...

EPA proposes industry-changing vehicle emissions limits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

By Matthew Daly and Tom Krisher | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032, a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales.The proposed regulation, announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, would set tailpipe emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years that are the strictest ever imposed — and call for far more new EV sales than the auto industry agreed to less than two years ago.The new rules do not affect California, which already has the nation’s toughest tailpipe emissions standards. The new rules’ goals for electric vehicles, while groundbreaking nationally, also fall short of California’s existing rules.Last August, at the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Air Resources Board approved landmark rules to prohibit the sale of all new gasoline-powered c...

22 arrested in San Jose sex crimes sweep operation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- Twenty-two men and women were arrested during a month-long sweep operation targeting sexual assault suspects who have outstanding warrants, the San Jose Police Department announced Wednesday. The 22 suspects are charged with a slew of sex crimes. "All of the suspects are charged with sex crimes ranging from misdemeanor sexual assault to felony cases of sexual assault of a minor and rape. The dates of these cases ranged from as early as 2012 to February 2023," SJPD Officer Steve Aponte wrote. The sweep was conducted in March and went after suspects who were "purposefully absconding from justice," Aponte told reporters at the news conference Wednesday. "Abscond" is a legal term meaning to go in a clandestine manner out of the jurisdiction of the courts, or to be concealed in order to avoid court proceedings. Mugshots released by the San Jose Police Department following a sweep.Police Chief Anthony Mata said, "I would like to thank all the San Jose Police De...

PSG coach Galtier denies racism allegations at previous club

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier vehemently denied accusations that he made racist and anti-Muslim comments when he was in charge of French league club Nice, adding Wednesday that he would take legal action.RMC Sport and other French media published reports quoting a leaked email from Nice’s former director of football Julien Fournier to the club’s owners, in which he accused Galtier of saying there were too many Black and Muslim players in the squad.In a statement released by his lawyer to French media, Galtier said he was “stunned to learn of the insulting and defamatory” report and said he would take unspecified legal actions.Meanwhile, a prominent group of PSG supporters called for Galtier’s departure if it can be proven that he made the alleged remarks.“The Ultras Paris Collective is closely following the Galtier case. If the facts he is accused of are proven, it is not acceptable that this person remains in the organizational ch...

Montgomery Co. attempted murder suspect leads police on chase into Frederick Co., turns up in Loudoun, Va.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

A Maryland man wanted on attempted murder charges led police on a chase from Montgomery County, Maryland, north into neighboring Frederick County, before switching vehicles and later turning up in Loudoun County, Virginia, police say.Johnny Franklin Dove, Jr. 22, of Derwood, Maryland, was wanted on attempted murder charges in connection with what police called a “violent domestic assault” that happened on Easter, according to a news release from the Montgomery County Police Department.The following day, detectives located Dove in Clarksburg and attempted a traffic stop, but police said Dove led officers on a pursuit into Frederick County.The pursuit sparked a large police response. In addition to Montgomery County police, Maryland State Police, Frederick City police and Frederick County Sheriff’s deputies assisted in the pursuit.During the pursuit, Dove was able to switch vehicles and get away, police said, before detectives tracked him down in Loudoun County the f...

Jim Harrick Jr., former assistant basketball coach, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jim Harrick Jr., who played at Pepperdine and worked as an assistant basketball coach at Georgia and several other schools, has died. He was 58.Harrick Jr. died Tuesday at his home in San Marcos after battling a glioblastoma brain tumor for 2 1/2 years, according to UCLA. The school, where his father Jim Sr. coached the Bruins to a national championship in 1995, announced his death Wednesday.Harrick Jr. played for his father at Pepperdine, where he graduated in 1987. He was on his father’s staff at Rhode Island and Georgia.Shortly after joining the Georgia staff in 2001, Harrick Jr. acknowledged that his biography in the media guide exaggerated his playing career and academic honors. Harrick Sr. was fired at UCLA a season after winning the school’s record 11th national title for lying on an expense report.The younger Harrick also had assistant stints at San Diego State, Valparaiso, Marshall and Loyola Chicago.After leaving coaching, he worked in the health care in...

An Escobar hippo killed in highway collision in Colombia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:37:20 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A hippopotamus descended from animals illegally brought to Colombia by the late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar has died in a collision with an SUV on a highway near Escobar’s hacienda, environmental authorities said Wednesday. The hippos, which spread from the estate into nearby rivers and now number more than 100, have no natural predators in Colombia and have been declared an invasive species that could upset the ecosystem. The crash late Tuesday reflected the additional danger they pose to motorists. Vehicle occupants were unharmed in the accident in the northwest on a highway from Bogotá to Medellín, police said. The hippopotamus died immediately afterward and was removed to be analyzed, environmental authorities said.“This is one of the dangers that the presence of this species represents. Many of them cross the highway where many vehicles pass, it is also a danger to people,” said David Echeverri López, a biologist at Cornare, the local environmental author...