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Missouri governor signs ban on transgender health care, school sports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Transgender minors and some adults in Missouri will soon be limited from accessing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries — as well as some school sports teams — under bills signed Wednesday by the state’s Republican governor.Beginning Aug. 28, Missouri health care providers won’t be able to prescribe those gender-affirming treatments for teens and children. Most adults will still have access to transgender health care under the law, but Medicaid won’t cover it. Prisoners in the state must pay for gender-affirming surgeries out-of-pocket under the law, the governor’s spokesperson Kelli Jones said.Gov. Mike Parson called hormones, puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgeries “harmful, irreversible treatments and procedures” for minors.“We support everyone’s right to his or her own pursuit of happiness,” Parson said in a statement Wednesday. “However, we must protect children from making life-altering decisions that th...

Italian lawmaker who fought to allow nursing one’s baby during working session is now first to do so

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

ROME (AP) — An Italian lawmaker who fought for a rule so that women can be allowed to nurse their babies during a parliamentary session has now become the first woman to do just that. Bipartisan applause broke out on Wednesday when Gilda Sportiello, a member of the lower Chamber of Deputies, nursed her 2-month-old son during a legislative vote. In the previous legislature, Sportiello had successfully pushed for a rule to be passed by the chamber’s rules committee to allow women to participate in voting and debates while nursing their children until their babies are 12 months old. She and baby Federico’s father, Riccardo Ricciardi, are both lawmakers from the populist 5-Star Movement. La Repubblica daily quoted Sportiello as saying that she hopes her pioneering act will inspire all workplaces in Italy to make it easier for working mothers to nurse their infants if they want to while on the job. “From today on, if the highest Italian institutions allow workers to nurse at their workpl...

Man convicted in 2018 California state park killing sentenced to life in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man convicted last month in the shooting death of a father who was camping with his daughters at a Southern California park was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison. A jury found Anthony Rauda guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Tristan Beaudette and of the attempted murders of the two young girls. Rauda fatally shot Beaudette in the head while the 35-year-old father camped in a tent with his daughters on June 18, 2018 in Malibu Creek State Park, roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of downtown Los Angeles. He was taken into custody in late 2018 in a ravine near the park with a rifle in his backpack.The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Rauda was sentenced to a total of 119 years to life. Rauda’s attorney, Nicholas C. Okorocha, declined to comment on Wednesday’s sentencing but said he appreciated the “deeply moving” victim impact statement delivered by Beaudette’s wife, Erica. Beaudette’s daughters, then ages 2 and 4,...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts as drops for tech overshadow gains elsewhere

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday, as drops for Microsoft and other big-name tech stocks overshadow gains for much of the rest of Wall Street.The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower in late trading even though the majority of stocks within the index were rising. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116 points, or 0.3%, at 33,690 with less than an hour remaining in trading. The Nasdaq composite was lagging the market with a drop of 1%. Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet all fell at least 3% and were the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. Because they’re some of Wall Street’s most valuable stocks, their movements pack extra punch on the index. It’s a reversal from much of this year, where stocks of high-growth companies led the way on hopes for easier interest rates from the Federal Reserve and excitement around artificial intelligence. But tech stocks are seen as some of the hardest hit by higher interest rates, and yields were on the rise in the Treasury m...

Four directors step down from Indigo board, Reisman also leaving in August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

Nearly half the board of Indigo Books and Music Inc. is stepping down — including founder and executive chair Heather Reisman — in a stunning announcement that saw one director allege poor leadership and treatment.Reisman, who built Indigo into Canada’s biggest bookstore chain over a quarter-century, said she will retire this summer.More immediate is the resignation of four other directors, including Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa. Appointed to the board in 2020, Oriuwa stepped down “because of her loss of confidence in board leadership and because of mistreatment,” Indigo said in a release Wednesday.The company provided no explanation for the departures of the three other directors — Frank Clegg, Howard Grosfield and Anne Marie O’Donovan — who collectively had served on the board for 40 years.The four resignations had taken effect when the statement was released Wednesday morning.The announcements mark another major hiccup for the company after a February cyberattac...

Kirby Puckett's junior college playing days in Chicago area earn him spot in another Hall of Fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

CHICAGO — He made himself into one of the best players of his generation in Major League Baseball in Minnesota, but that journey actually began in the Chicago area. Growing up in the city, late Twins star Kirby Puckett would really begin to make a name for himself at a junior college in River Grove, doing so alongside a former Cubs & White Sox outfielder."He was pretty much the best player that I've ever played with," said Lance Johnson about late Baseball Hall of Famer and Triton College teammate in their one year at the school.Now that part of his career is being honored by the National Junior College Athletic Association as they'll posthumously induct Puckett into their Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Thursday in Charlotte. That provides those in Chicago, including Johnson, the opportunity to reflect on his one incredible season with the Trojans."He was unbelievable. He's probably the first player that I saw that could do whatever he wanted, when he wanted, and when the tea...

3 Chicago chefs win prestigious food award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

(NEXSTAR/WGN) – About two dozen lucky (and undoubtedly hardworking) chefs and restaurant teams around the country received one of the food world's top honors this week. The James Beard Award winners were announced Monday at a ceremony in Chicago. Chicago restaurants, or a few of their chefs, took home the top prize in two categories.Tim Flores and Genie Kwon of Kasama won the "Best Chef: Great Lakes" category that represented Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The restaurant in Chicago's East Village neighborhood became the world's first Filipino Michelin-starred restaurant in 2022.Damarr Brown of Virtue in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood won the crown of "Emerging Chef." Last year, the Windy City-native was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in America for his work as Chef de Cuisine at Virtue. WATCH: Dean Richards on the 2023 James Beard Awards red carpet The first James Beard Awards were given out in 1991. They "celebrate excellence across a range of experiences—from fi...

Police alert Gurnee residents of bear sighting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

GURNEE, Ill. — Police warned Gurnee residents of a reported bear sighting Wednesday morning.At around 8:45 a.m., officers were made aware of a bear sighting in the area of Hunt Club Road and Route 132.Officers checked the area, but no bear was located.However, on the department's Facebook page, a user commented what appears to be a black bear running through the area.Police told residents if they see the bear do not approach it. Anyone with information on the bear's whereabouts is asked to call 847-599-7000 ext. 0.

Lincoln Park Zoo lion cub with mobility issue undergoes tests for cause

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

CHICAGO — One of the Lincoln Park Zoo's newest lion cubs is recovering after undergoing extensive tests for a health issue. Lion cub Lomelok, which means "sweet," has been having mobility challenges, which required additional observation from the zoo's animal and veterinary care staff. With the help of MedVet Chicago, Lomelok underwent a series of advanced diagnostic tests, where initial bloodwork and radiology were inconclusive. SEE ALSO | 3 new lion cubs at Lincoln Park Zoo get first wellness visitA CT scan and an MRI were performed Tuesday on the cub as a follow-up. Lomelok also received anti-inflammatory medication and a pain control injection.  The zoo says he has recovered from the procedure and is now reunited with his mom Zari and his two other littermates. While test results are pending, the zoo thanked supporters for their kind words. Lomelok's health and well-being will continue to be monitored closely, zoo officials said. Mom Zari gave birth to the new trio of cubs on Ja...

'I can taste the air': Photos show smoke from Canadian wildfires lingering over Capitol, obscuring NYC skyscrapers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.While Canadian officials asked other countries for help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people, air quality with what the U.S. rates as hazardous levels of pollution extended into central New York. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as Virginia and Indiana, affecting millions of people.“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy. Which masks work best in smoky air? In Baltimore, where officials warned residents to stay indoors when possible, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband, Jack Hughes, took t...