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Haaland criticized over ‘difficult’ choice on Willow project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In early March, President Joe Biden met with members of Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation as they implored him to approve a contentious oil drilling project in their state. Around the same time, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland held a very different meeting on the same topic.Gathering at Interior headquarters a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the White House, leaders of major environmental organizations and Indigenous groups pleaded with Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member, to use her authority to block the Willow oil project. Environmental groups call the project a “carbon bomb” that would betray pledges made by Biden — and Haaland — to fight climate change and have mounted a social media #StopWillow campaign that has been seen hundreds of millions of times.The closed-door meeting, which was described by two participants who insisted on not being identified because of its confidential nature, grew emotional as participants urged Haalan...

Wisconsin Democratic Secretary of State La Follette resigns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette resigned on Friday, three months into his 11th consecutive term in office.Gov. Tony Evers appointed former Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who ran for U.S. Senate last year but lost in the primary, to fill out the four-year term. Wisconsin’s secretary of state is not in charge of elections and has almost no official duties. La Follette, 82, won reelection in November over a Republican who wanted to shift election duties to the office. La Follette — a distant relative of “Fighting” Bob La Follette, a progressive governor and 1924 presidential candidate — was first elected secretary of state in 1974. After a failed try for lieutenant governor in 1978, he won the office in 1982 and has won reelection nine times.Republicans have gradually stripped the office of almost all its duties and staff and relegated La Follette to a cramped office in the Capitol basement. However, since the 2020 presidential el...

Quadruple murder trial begins for former NY police officer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal jury in New York began hearing testimony in the murder trial of a former New York police officer accused of masterminding the killing of four people — one strangled to death with a zip tie and three others shot execution-style — over money in a drug operation.All four men were found buried on the property of the former suburban New York police officer, Nicholas Tartaglione, whose trial, which began Thursday, is expected to last a month in U.S. District Court in White Plains.But defense attorneys asserted that Tartaglione had nothing to do with the killings and was being used by the government as a convenient fall guy.Tartaglione gained further notoriety as a former cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein, before the disgraced financier committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting sex-trafficking charges.Prosecutors contend that Tartaglione lured one of the victims, Martin Luna, to a bar because he believed Luna had stolen money intended for ...

Police: Suburban Popeyes employees open fire on delivery driver over late order

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

GLENWOOD, Ill. — Two employees have been charged for allegedly opening fire on a delivery driver at a suburban Popeyes.According to Glenwood police, on Sunday officers responded to a Popeyes, located in the 18200 block of South Halsted, on the report of shots fired.Following an investigation, police allege Trevon Jackson, 19, of Steger, and Omarion Roberts, 19, of Ford Heights, opened fire on a food delivery driver over a heated exchange regarding a "delayed food order."The shots were fired at the driver and his passenger as they were fleeing, police said. No one was injured. Driver wanted after woman critically injured in South Side hit-and-run Jackson and Roberts were charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm. A third employee, Clifton Stewart, 55, of Sauk Village, was accused of concealing evidence and making false statements.A manager told WGN News Friday that all three involved have been terminated.

How WGN's Pat Elwood honors his daughter and St Baldrick's

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

CHICAGO — There was a buzz about town Friday and it’s has the potential to be a real life saver.St Baldricks, that mythical figure you get when you combine bald with St Patrick’s, it’s all about helping find a cure to pediatric cancer.Some believe Baldricks is almost magical the way it inspires ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Venues big and small across the country including dozens in Chicago and suburbs hosted events. ‘I was too young to die.’ How research and funding can help pediatric cancer patients — and what more can be done At Queen of Martyr’s Grammar school, the local parish priest braved the shave for the first time. At District 64 in Park Ridge and Niles there was a combined effort at Lincoln and Emerson Middle Schools.They are champions of the cause raising more than $450,000 and that is money that goes to hospitals across the nation including eight in the Chicago area to improve cancer fighting protocols. Sox fan facin...

Yale School of Medicine researchers study 'magic mushroom' treatment for migraines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) – Could relief for migraines and cluster headaches come not just from pharmaceuticals, but nature as well?The active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms is a compound called psilocybin. Instead of harnessing its psychedelic results, researchers at Yale School of Medicine tested very small doses of psilocybin on people with crippling headaches. Psilocybin also affects people's serotonin levels."Over the next two weeks the likelihood of having a migraine attack was greatly reduced," said Dr. Christopher Gottschalk, Professor at Yale School of Medicine.Dr. Gottschalk said the small dosages resulted in patients having six fewer headaches a month, a big break for those who suffer.Health Headlines: EPA proposes new standards to keep chemicals out of drinking waterYale Physician Emmanuelle Shindler, the only researcher in the U.S. studying psychedelics on headache disorders, is leading the research.One promising finding is that the study does not involve daily mi...

Bill to ban cat declawing introduced in Illinois State Capitol

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) – A bill that would ban cat declawing and similar procedures has been introduced in the State Capitol. If the bill passes, anyone who violates it could pay $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second and $2,500 for the third. “I bet a pound of catnip many owners that know how painful and inhumane this action is to cats,” Rep. Barbara Hernandez (D-Aurora), the bill’s sponsor, said on Twitter. “Declawing a cat just because someone doesn’t want them to scratch the furniture is unacceptable.”The decision of whether to declaw a cat is one many cat owners including Becca Bebar, the hospital manager of Northgate Pet Clinic, have faced.  Illinois bill would make driving with pet in your lap illegal “Growing up, I had cats and we always just declawed them because my parents were like, ‘We don't want them tearing up our furniture,’” Bebar said. When she moved out on her own, Bebar had older cats that had been declawed."Then when I adopted a new on...

Kroll report finds APD Training Academy fails to establish police-community collaboration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A review of the Austin Police Department's training curriculum recommended creating two advisory bodies to review it, including members of the community and professionals.Additionally, the report said if APD wanted to continue its current process, "it should be re-formulated with a more defined scope and better protocols.""Whichever model is selected, we recommend that APD leadership also convene regular neighborhood strategic planning meetings within each APD sector," Kroll Associates, Inc. wrote in its report.Kroll Associates, Inc. is a consulting firm that focuses on risk management decisions, according to the report. Kroll helps clients make "decisions through a wide range of investigations, cyber security, due diligence and compliance, physical and operational security, and data and information management services," the report states.In a memorandum to the City of Austin mayor and city council, Interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills provided the completed r...

Pro pickleball tournament being held in Austin this weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The world's best pickleball players are in Austin this weekend for the ONIX Austin Showdown. It's a professional and amateur tournament and a stop on the Professional Pickleball Association tour, taking place March 16-19 at the Elevation Athletic Club. The tournament will feature 1,100 registered athletes across multiple divisions: men's singles/doubles, women's singles/doubles, and age brackets categories 19, 35, 50, 60, 70.World’s top male and female pros, including Anna Leigh Waters (Women’s No. 1), Ben Johns (Men’s No. 1), Riley Newman (Men’s No. 2) and Catherine Parenteau (Women’s No. 2), will be competing Professional Purse: $238,314 in prize money.This will be the sixth event of a professional calendar of 25 events during the 2023 season. The PPA Tour is returning to the Austin area after debuting the Austin Showdown in 2022.On average, PPA Tour events have an estimated total...

Wisconsin Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette resigns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:26 GMT

Wisconsin’s longtime Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette resigned on Friday, saying he was leaving with a “heavy heart” three months into his 11th consecutive term in office after he watched the office be stripped of its power over the past 50 years.Gov. Tony Evers appointed former Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who ran for U.S. Senate last year but lost in the primary, to fill out the four-year term. Wisconsin’s secretary of state has not been in charge of elections since 1974 and has almost no official duties.“It is with a heavy heart that I submit my resignation,” the 82-year-old La Follette said in his resignation letter. “After many years of frustration, I’ve decided that I don’t want to spend the next three and a half years trying to run an office without adequate resources and staffing levels.”He did not immediately return a telephone message left seeking comment. In his resignation letter, La Follette said “I must now focus on my personal needs...