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Qualification markers grow even tougher for next month’s 4th GOP presidential debate, in Alabama

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A fourth Republican presidential debate has been set for next month, with heightened polling requirements that could make the stage less crowded than before.In a memo sent to campaigns on Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the fourth debate would take place Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.To make the stage, candidates must garner at least 6% in two approved national polls, or 6% in one poll from two separate early-voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.According to the memo, first reported by The New York Times, participants also need to amass at least 80,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory, in 20 or more states.Candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to satisfy the requirements.The RNC has increased the necessary markers with each debate, an effort intended to winnow the once sprawling field. Meeting some of the qualifications h...

Puerto Rican ex-boxer Félix Verdejo sentenced to life in prison in the killing of his pregnant lover

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Former Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo received two life sentences on Friday after he was found guilty in the grisly killing of his 27-year-old pregnant lover.A federal judge sentenced Verdejo following emotional speeches by the family of Keishla Rodríguez, who was killed in April 2021.Verdejo had been found guilty in July of kidnapping that leads to a death and of causing the death of an unborn child. His attorney said Friday that he plans to appeal the sentencing.Many across Puerto Rico celebrated the outcome of the case.“This sentence should serve as a lesson for others,” Puerto Rico Police Commissioner Antonio López said. “It doesn’t matter how much fame, money or power you think you have. If you break the law, you will have to respond.”During the trial earlier this year, Luis Antonio Cádiz, a friend of Verdejo’s also charged in the case, said the former boxer had pressured Rodríguez to get an abortion. He also testified that the day Verdejo k...

Supreme Court rules mandatory minimum sentences for child luring are unconstitutional

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s top court has ruled that applying mandatory minimum sentences to the offence of child luring is unconstitutional.The Supreme Court of Canada found in a six-to-one decision released today that such sentences violate the Charter-protected right that guards against “cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.”A summary of the decision says the court ruled that mandatory minimum sentences for the offence of child luring apply to “an exceptionally wide scope of conduct” and can therefore lead to “grossly disproportionate punishments.”Justices examined the issue in reference to two specific cases, noting that the decision comes at a time when it says the internet has made access to children “unprecedented.”One of the two appeals it examined concerned a man who pleaded guilty to child luring and sexual interference after having sex with a girl four times over the course of two years, beginning when she was 13 years old ...

Millions of dollars of psychedelic mushrooms seized in a Connecticut bust

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

Law enforcement officials came across a staggering find after being tipped off about possible drug-dealing: dozens of dog-food-size bags of psychedelic mushrooms worth an estimated $8.5 million at a home in rural Connecticut.A drug task force including federal, state and local authorities raided the property Thursday in Burlington, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Hartford, and charged a 21-year-old man with operating a drug factory and possession with intent to sell/distribute narcotics.The bust came as two states and several cities in the U.S. have decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms and their active ingredient, psilocybin, which along with other psychedelics have emerged as an alternative treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. About 20 other states have active legislation on changing laws on psychedelic drugs, according to Psychedelic Alpha, a group that tracks such legislation. In Connecticut, an attempt this year to decriminalize possess...

Pembina Pipeline needs Trans Mountain certainty before considering an offer: CEO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

CALGARY — The CEO of Pembina Pipeline Corp. says the company needs more certainty over timing, regulations and costs related to the Trans Mountain expansion project before deciding whether to make an offer for an equity stake in the pipeline.The Calgary-based pipeline company formed a partnership in 2021 with Western Indigenous Pipeline Group for the purpose of pursuing an Indigenous-led equity stake in Trans Mountain. That partnership, called Chinook Pathways, is one of just two entities — the other is a group called Project Reconciliation — that has publicly expressed commercial interest in the federal government’s pipeline divestment process.Ottawa bought the Trans Mountain pipeline, Canada’s only pipeline system that transports oil from Alberta to the west coast, in 2018 to ensure a planned expansion would be completed after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. threatened to scrap the project.But the federal government has always stated it does not wish to be the...

Men charged in months-long investigation into illegal firearm sales from U.S. to Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

Two men are facing several offences following a months-long investigation into the alleged sale of illegal firearms from the United States into Canada.York Regional Police said the investigation was launched in June 2023 and was completed in October 2023. Two men were allegedly offering to sell guns illegally imported from the U.S. for sale in Canada. Through the investigation, police said the suspects suggested they had a variety of firearms for sale.Through the investigation, police seized two illegal handguns, ammunition and a quantity of Xanax pills. Both men were taken into custody.On Friday, they were identified as 21-year-old Jamai Derrick of Markham and 26-year-old Shota Makharashvili of Toronto.Two men were allegedly offering to sell guns illegally imported from the U.S. for sale in Canada. Through the investigation, police said the suspects suggested they had several firearms for sale. Photo: YRP.Both men face numerous firearm-related charges, including unauthorized posses...

A cyber breach delays poll worker training in Mississippi’s largest county before the statewide vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Election officials in Mississippi’s most populous county had to scramble to complete required poll worker training after an early September breach involving county computers. In Hinds County, such training is typically completed by early October before a November general election, according to Election Commissioner Shirley Varnado. Instead, office staff members worked right up to Thursday’s deadline to finish the training after Varnado said they were unable to access their computers for about three weeks.Mississippi has a general election Tuesday with key races such as governor and secretary of state — the state’s top election official.Hinds County is home to the capital city of Jackson. The county has some 167,000 registered voters and is a key source of Democratic votes. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won the county with 73% of the vote, while Republican Donald Trump received 57.5% statewide.Federal authorities were investigating after county computers wer...

Prosecutor questions Florida dentist’s claim he was extorted, not a murder-for-hire mastermind

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida dentist on trial in his ex-brother-in-law’s slaying testified Friday that he never explained to authorities that he was a victim of extortion — and not the mastermind behind a 2014 murder-for-hire plot — because no one asked him to reveal the truth.Prosecutors contend Charles Adelson paid to have Dan Markel killed after Adelson’s sister, Wendi, lost a bitter custody battle. Adelson claims investigators got it wrong, and while he knew shortly after the murder that his ex-girlfriend’s friends were the killers, he didn’t say anything because he thought his life was in danger. Nine years after Markel, a prominent Florida State University law professor, was shot by hitmen while sitting in his car outside his Tallahassee home, Adelson admitted when questioned by his lawyer Thursday that he paid the killers money after the fact, but said it was only because he was being threatened. The tie between Adelson and the killers was his ex...

2nd of four men who escaped from a central Georgia jail has been caught, sheriff’s office says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The second of four men who escaped from a central Georgia jail last month has been captured, authorities said.The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that a team of local, state and federal law enforcement officers arrested Marc Kerry Anderson, 25, just before 3 p.m. Friday at an apartment complex in Atlanta. The sheriff’s office did not provide any other information about the arrest.Sheriff David Davis said last month that Anderson, 52-year-old Joey Fournier, 29-year-old Chavis Demaryo Stokes and 37-year-old Johnifer Dernard Barnwell had escaped through a damaged window and a cut fence at the jail early Oct. 16. Stokes was captured Oct. 26, but the other two remained on the run.Also Friday, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Service arrested a 32-year-old woman they said hindered Anderson’s capture. Tymesha Ceiarra Timley was arrested at 10 a.m. Friday and was booked into the Bibb County jail, where she was being held...

Matthew Perry Foundation established for late ‘Friends’ actor to help people with addiction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Less than a week after his death, a foundation has been established in the name of Matthew Perry to help people dealing with addiction. “In the spirit of Matthew Perry’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction, we embark on a journey to honor his legacy by establishing the Matthew Perry Foundation, guided by his own words and experiences, and driven by his passion for making a difference in as many lives as possible,” said an inaugural statement establishing the Matthew Perry Foundation on Friday.The Emmy-nominated “Friends” star often spoke publicly about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. The foundation, which is now accepting donations, cited his desire to be remembered as someone who helped others with substance abuse even more than his sitcom stardom. The foundation will be maintained by the National Philanthropic Trust. No further details on the organization were immediately released. Perry was declared dead...