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Maryland apologizes to man wrongly convicted of murder, agrees to $340K payment for years in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

By BRIAN WITTE (Associated Press)ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A man wrongly convicted of two separate violent crimes will be compensated by the state of Maryland after spending years behind bars, including over a year after he had been proven innocent.A Maryland board approved more than $340,000 for a settlement on Wednesday in compensation for Demetrius Smith who was wrongly convicted of murder and first-degree assault and spent more than five years in prison.Gov. Wes Moore, who chairs the three-member Board of Public Works, apologized to Smith before the board approved the settlement, noting that it’s been more than a decade since his release in 2013.“We’re here today more than 10 years after he was released from incarceration, providing Mr. Smith with long overdue justice that he was deprived of, an apology from the state of Maryland that until today he’s never received,” Moore told Smith, who attended the hearing in person.Smith was 25 in 2008 when h...

Ukraine’s president, at Security Council, lashes out at Russia but avoids face-to-face encounter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

By EDITH M. LEDERER and JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s president accused Russia of waging “a criminal and unprovoked aggression” that undermines all norms of war and the U.N. Charter at a meeting Wednesday of the U.N. Security Council that started with a clash over his speech.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the council that he would not have come if he did not have a proposal to end the 19-month war, starting with adherence to the charter that ensures the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all 193 U.N. member nations. He stressed that restoration of all Ukrainian territory is the key to peace.Before the meeting started, there was intense speculation about whether Zelenskyy and Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, would clash, speak or totally avoid each other. But no confrontation happened because Zelenskyy left the council soon after his address.The verbal fireworks began at the start of the meeting, before L...

Elijah McClain died after a police stop and ketamine injection. Now, 2 officers are on trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — The trial of two suburban Denver police officers was set to open Wednesday in the killing of Elijah McClain, a Black man put in a neck hold and injected with a powerful sedative whose 2019 death later became a rallying cry for nationwide protests and spurred police reform in Colorado.In the first of several trials stemming from the death of McClain, lawyers for the two sides are expected to paint contrasting pictures of the deadly struggle between the officers and the 23-year-old massage therapist. McClain was stopped by police in the city of Aurora while walking home from a convenience store carrying only a plastic bag and his phone. One question jurors could be asked to decide is whether it was lawful for officers Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt to detain and use force against McClain, who a 911 caller reported as suspicious. If prosecutors can convince jurors the stop was unjustified, that would undermine any argument that McClain’s injuries were a resul...

Catholic priests hold a ceremony blessing same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann, a town near Duesseldorf, who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” — including same-sex couples.Officials from the Cologne archdiocese, which Mettmann belongs to, had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples, German news agency dpa reported.The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples. Waving rainbow flags, they sang the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love,” d...

Ahead of abortion vote, Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a rewrite of some misleading ballot language

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A wildly divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday that only one element of the disputed ballot language for describing a closely watched fall abortion rights question is misleading and must be rewritten.The decision lets stand most of the word choices targeted in a lawsuit by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the pro-abortion rights ballot campaign, as well as the substitution of “unborn child” for “fetus,” which it chose not to dispute.But it also marked the high court’s second slap this year at the Republican-led Ohio Ballot Board’s chosen wording for describing constitutional amendments to voters. In June, justices ordered the panel to reword its description of a divisive August constitutional amendment that would have made amending Ohio’s constitution harder.In both cases, the summaries were advanced by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, an abortion opponent and 2024 U.S. Senate candidate who chairs the panel in his role as s...

Biden warns Netanyahu about the health of Israel’s democracy and urges compromise on court overhaul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden raised “hard issues,” including protecting the “checks and balances” in a democracy, in a Wednesday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pushing Netanyahu to find a compromise on a planned judicial overhaul that has set off protests in Israel and concerns in Washington.The two leaders sat down and took time to chat one-on-one on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It was their first meeting since Netanyahu took office at the helm of his country’s far-right government late last year.Netanyahu tried to play down concerns at the start of the meeting about his contentious proposed judicial overhaul, saying there is “one thing that will never change and that is Israel’s commitment to democracy.”Biden opened the meeting by stressing the U.S. friendship with Israel as being “ironclad” and saying that “without Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world who is secure. Israel is essential.” But Biden also acknowledged the ...

Stock market today: Wall Street stays mixed, bond yields rise after Fed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it may not cut interest rates next year by as much as it earlier thought, regardless of how much Wall Street wants it.The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in afternoon trading after briefly turning lower shortly after the announcement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 216 points, or 0.6%, at 34,734, as of 2:36 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.The Fed held its main interest rate steady, as was widely expected. Officials also indicated they may raise the federal funds rate one more time this year, as the Fed tries to get inflation back down to its target of 2%.Perhaps more importantly for the market, Fed officials also suggested they may cut rates next year by only half a percentage point. Three months ago, they were penciling in a full percentage point of cuts in 2024. Treasury yields in the bond market immediately turned higher after the Fed released its projections. They had a...

Gates Foundation commits $200 million to pay for medical supplies and contraception

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $200 million to help save the lives of mothers and children during child birth, as the largest American philanthropic donor throws its weight behind the issue during the nonprofit’s annual Goalkeepers conference on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Melinda French Gates, who says the issue is personal to her, smiled broadly as she introduced herself not just as the co-founder and co-chair of the foundation but as “Nona,” or grandmother, gesturing to her oldest daughter, Jennifer, who was seated in the audience in New York on Wednesday. The foundation pledged $100 million each to health products manufacturer Unitaid, and UNFPA, the U.N. agency for reproductive health, to fund access to health care and contraceptive supplies and information in low- and middle-income countries. The Gates Foundation has been a major supporter of Unitaid, donating $50 million in each 2012 and 2017, according to the foundation&...

Woman rescued from outhouse toilet after climbing in to retrieve Apple Watch, Michigan police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

BAGLEY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A woman was rescued Tuesday from an outhouse toilet in northern Michigan after she climbed in to retrieve her Apple Watch and became trapped.The woman, whose name was not released, lowered herself inside the toilet after dropping the watch at the Department of Natural Resources boat launch at Dixon Lake in Otsego County’s Bagley Township, state police said Wednesday in a release.First responders were called when the woman was heard yelling for help. The toilet was removed and a strap was used to haul the woman out.“If you lose an item in an outhouse toilet, do not attempt to venture inside the containment area. Serious injury may occur,” state police said in the release.The state police did not say Wednesday if the woman was injured or if the watch was recovered.Bagley Township is about 240 miles (386 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.The Associated Press

Ohio’s political mapmakers are going back to work after Republican infighting caused a week’s delay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Redistricting Commission was set to get back to business Wednesday after two Republican legislative leaders who may be rivals for the House speakership next year settled a political dispute that delayed the time-crunched panel’s work by a week.Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had reconvened the commission Sept. 13, but he was unable to do anything more than swear in its members — himself, two other statewide officeholders and four state lawmakers — because Republicans were without a co-chair. Indecision persisted, so the governor also canceled a second attempted meeting he had set for that Friday.DeWine set the next meeting for Wednesday afternoon, then he came down with COVID-19 — precluding him from pinch-hitting as chair while Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Jason Stephens came to some agreement.Hours before the meeting was set to begin, Huffman and Stephens announced their decision. They designated a seemingly neutral third pa...