For decades, the plotline for LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S. was one of advances — often slow-paced and hard-fought but inexorably moving forward. Now, faced with unprecedented attacks in state legislatures, transgender rights leaders acknowledge they are playing defense — and two of the biggest groups are joining forces to counter the onslaught. “This is going to be a defense …
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CIA terminates whistleblower who prompted flood of sexual misconduct complaints
The CIA this week terminated a woman whose whistleblower account of being assaulted in a stairwell at the spy agency’s headquarters prompted a flood of colleagues to come forward with their own complaints of sexual misconduct. The woman’s attorney called the action a brazen retaliation. While the CIA said that accusation was “factually inaccurate,” it wouldn’t comment further on the …
Read More »Hawaii’s high court cites ‘The Wire’ in rebuke of US Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights
HONOLULU (AP) — A ruling by Hawaii’s high court saying that a man can be prosecuted for carrying a gun in public without a permit cites crime-drama TV series “The Wire” and invokes the “spirit of Aloha” in an apparent rebuke of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that expanded gun rights nationwide. “The thing about the old days, they the …
Read More »Jury awards climate scientist Michael Mann $1 million in defamation lawsuit
WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury on Thursday awarded $1 million to climate scientist Michael Mann who sued a pair of conservative writers 12 years ago after they compared his depictions of global warming to a convicted child molester. Mann, a professor of climate science at the University of Pennsylvania, rose to fame for a graph first published in 1998 in …
Read More »Haiti’s prime minister calls for calm as violent protests seek his ouster
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry urged calm in a public address early Thursday following three days of violent protests that have paralyzed the country as thousands of protesters demand his resignation. The brief speech in the pre-dawn hours did little to appease people who are angry and frustrated over unrelenting gang violence, deepening poverty and the …
Read More »Finland extends Russia border closure until April 14 saying Moscow hasn’t stopped sending migrants
HELSINKI (AP) — Finland’s government said Thursday that it would extend the closure of its long border with Russia for another two months until April 14, because it sees no signs that Moscow was stopping its “hybrid operation” of funneling migrants toward the frontier with the Nordic nation. Finland closed the 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border late last year after about …
Read More »A prosecutor says man killed, disposed of daughter like ‘trash.’ His lawyer says he didn’t kill her
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man brutally beat his 5-year-old daughter to death and spent months moving her body around before disposing of it “like yesterday’s trash,” a prosecutor said Thursday. But the man’s lawyer said he didn’t harm the child and the last person who saw her alive — the man’s estranged wife — won’t say what …
Read More »US applications for unemployment benefits fall again despite recent layoff announcements
The number of Americans filing for jobless claims fell last week despite more layoff announcements from high-profile companies recently. Applications for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 218,000 for the week ending Feb. 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, increased by 3,750 to 212,250. Weekly unemployment claims …
Read More »Motorcyclist seen smashing in back of woman’s car pleads guilty to aggravated assault
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The motorcyclist accused of smashing in the back of a woman’s car near Philadelphia’s City Hall while her young children were inside and then waving a gun at her has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, the district attorney’s office said on Thursday. Cody Heron, 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of …
Read More »Audit of $19,000 lectern purchase for Arkansas governor almost done
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas auditors are nearly done looking into the purchase of a $19,000 lectern for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and expect to issue a report on it by the end of March, a state official told lawmakers on Thursday. Legislative Auditor Roger Norman told a panel that his office has interviewed 20 people about the lectern, …
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