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Democrat McCaffery, Republican Carluccio win primaries for Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Dan McCaffery and Republican Carolyn Carluccio won their parties’ primaries for a vacant seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday, setting up a fall contest to join a high court that is at the center of cases on guns, abortion and elections in a presidential battleground state.Each nominee won a two-way primary race. McCaffery defeated Deborah Kunselman, a colleague on the Superior Court, and Carluccio defeated Patricia McCullough, a Commonwealth Court judge who lost a primary for a high court seat in 2021. Party allies reported spending nearly $1 million to help her beat McCullough.On the campaign trail, McCullough repeatedly boasted of being the “only judge in 2020 in the presidential election in the entire country” to order a halt to her state’s election certification.McCullough was ruling in a Republican-backed post-election legal challenge that sought to tilt victory to Donald Trump in the presidential battleground state. The state’s hig...

Abortion pill case moves to appeals court, on track for Supreme Court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Legal arguments over women’s access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion move to a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday, in a case challenging a Food and Drug Administration decision made more than two decades ago.The closely watched case is likely to wind up at the Supreme Court, which already has intervened to keep the drug, mifepristone, available while the legal fight winds through the courts. Three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges with a history of supporting abortion restrictions are set to hear arguments. At issue are the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000, and FDA actions making the drug more accessible in later years. The judges won’t rule immediately. Judges nominated to the district court and appeals court by former President Donald Trump are playing major roles in the case, which is being argued almost a year after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that had established...

Trial begins over Kari Lake’s last challenge to loss in Arizona governor’s race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

A three-day trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday over the only remaining legal claim in Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat six months ago to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor’s race.The former TV anchor was among the most vocal of last year’s Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trump’s election lies, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake did not. She lost to Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes.Courts have dismissed most of her lawsuit, but the Arizona Supreme Court revived one claim that challenges the implementation of signature verification procedures on early ballots in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters.Superior Court Judge Peter A. Thompson said in a ruling Monday that Lake alleges Maricopa County officials failed to perform any higher level signature verifications on mail-in ballots that had been fl...

Danny Masterson rape retrial jury to begin deliberations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors in Danny Masterson’s rape retrial are expected to begin deliberations Wednesday morning after lawyers wrap up closing arguments in the case against the former “That ’70s Show” star. Late last year, a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case against Masterson involving rape allegations by three women, and Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo declared a mistrial. Prosecutors said during all-day closing arguments Tuesday that Masterson drugged the women in order to assault them, then relied on his status as a prominent member in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for years. “You don’t want to have sex? You don’t have a choice,” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told the jury of seven men and five women. “The defendant makes that choice for these victims. And he does it over and over and over again.”Masterson, 47, has pleaded not guilty to raping three women at his home between 2001 and 2003. His attorney, Philip Cohen, told juro...

Jacksonville voters elect Florida city’s first female mayor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Voter’s in Jacksonville, Florida, elected the city’s first female mayor on Tuesday.Democrat Donna Deegan earned 52% of vote, beating Republican Daniel Davis, according to unofficial results. About 217,000 people voted in the race, for a turnout of 33%.“Love won tonight, and we made history,” Deegan said in a statement. “We have a new day in Jacksonville because people chose unity over division—creating a broad coalition of people across the political spectrum that want a unified city.”Davis conceded in a speech to supporters Tuesday night.Deegan said she plans to focus on upgrading infrastructure, building an economy that works for everyone and improving access to healthcare.Deegan is replacing Republican Lenny Curry, who was first elected in 2015 and couldn’t run again because of term limits.Jacksonville is Florida’s most populous city, with about 950,000 residents.The Associated Press

Criminal cases for killing eagles decline as wind turbine dangers grow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

ROLLING HILLS, Wyo. (AP) — Criminal cases brought by U.S. wildlife officials for killing or harming protected bald and golden eagles dropped sharply in recent years, even as officials ramped up issuing permits that will allow wind energy companies to kill thousands of eagles without legal consequence.The falloff in enforcement of eagle protection laws — which accelerated in the Trump administration and has continued under President Joe Biden — was revealed in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data obtained by The Associated Press.It comes amid growing concern that a proliferation of wind turbines to feed a growing demand for renewable energy is jeopardizing golden eagle populations already believed to be declining in some areas. Dozens of permits approved or pending would allow roughly 6,000 eagles to be killed in coming decades, government documents show. Most permits are for wind farms, and more than half the killed birds would be golden eagles.The AP’s findings — that significant nu...

Biden to honor 9 with Medal of Valor, including 2 NYPD officers killed after 911 call

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two New York Police Department officers ambushed and killed responding to a 911 call and the rookie cop who took down the gunman are among those who will be honored Wednesday by President Joe Biden with the Medal of Valor, the nation’s highest honor for bravery by a public safety officer. The three NYPD officers, a Houston police officer, Colorado police official, Ohio sheriff’s deputy and three FDNY firefighters are the nine who will be receiving medals in a White House ceremony before Biden departs for Japan and the Group of Seven summit.NYPD officer Wilbert Mora and his police partner Jason Rivera were shot Jan. 21, 2022, while responding to a call about a family dispute in a Harlem apartment. Officer Sumit Sulan shot and killed the gunman, ending the deadly encounter moments after it began. Rivera died that night, Mora was pronounced dead four days later. The fallen cops were no strangers to tensions between the NYPD and some of the communities they polic...

PHOTOS: Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of NBA Western Conference Finals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

The Denver Nuggets held off a late rally by the Los Angeles Lakers to win Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals 132-126 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday night, May 16, 2023.Related ArticlesDenver Nuggets | Nuggets vs. Lakers: Nikola Jokic has another triple-double as Denver survives Game 1 Denver Nuggets | Keeler: The best way for Anthony Davis, Lakers to slow down Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic? Kidnapping might actually be it. Denver Nuggets | Kiszla: Nikola Jokic and LeBron James couldn’t more different as basketball players. But their secret sauce is the same. Denver Nuggets | 20 and up: LeBron James defies time, propels Lakers to conference finals vs. Nuggets Denver Nuggets | Kiszla: Nuggets can’t lose to Lakers, unless they let the refs or ghosts beat them

Kiszla: Nuggets stare down ghosts of playoff failure to beat Lakers in Game 1 of Western Conference Finals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

In a basketball city haunted by ghosts of nearly 50 years of playoff failure, the Nuggets refused to be spooked when LeBron James and the Lakers dared them to fold.After blowing nearly all of a 21-point lead, Denver held off Los Angeles for a 132-126 victory Tuesday night in the series-opener of the Western Conference finals at Ball Arena.“Poise, not panic,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said when asked how his team survived a furious second-half comeback by the Lakers.Well, poise and a whole lot of Nikola Jokic.On a spring night when this Joker was better than the King, the best player ever to wear a Nuggets uniform recorded the 12th triple double of his playoff career for the benefit of the triple dunderheads: Kendrick Perkins, Stephen A. Smith and Mark Jackson of ESPN.You know, the haters that not only lobbied for Philadelphia center Joel Embiid for MVP but allowed ESPN to disparage Jokic in the process.This game turned from a belly laugh to sweaty palms for Nuggets Na...

Nikola Jokic leads Nuggets past Lakers 132-126 in West opener

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:14:36 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic recorded his sixth triple-double of these playoffs with 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists, powering the Denver Nuggets to a 132-126 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night.Behind Jokic's sizzling start and strong finish, and Jamal Murray's 31 points, Denver beat the Lakers in the opener of the West finals for the first time ever.After a slow start, Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James finished with 26 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Austin Reaves chipped in 23 points and fueled L.A.'s desperate fourth-quarter run that nearly erased Denver's 14-point cushion after three.The Nuggets led by as many as 21 but the Lakers pulled within three points twice in the fourth quarter, once on Reaves’ 3-pointer at 124-121 and again on James’ pair of free throws that made it 129-126 with 1:12 remaining.“Yeah, it took us a half to get into the game,” James said, “and that was pretty mu...