Month: April 2024

Pittsburgh Shuts Bridge as Barges Break Loose on Ohio River

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[ad_1] The authorities in Pittsburgh closed McKees Rocks Bridge as a precaution after several barges broke loose on the Ohio River late Friday. There is a risk that the barges could come into contact with the “substructure” of the bridge, the McKees Rocks Police Department said in a statement early Saturday confirming the closure. The department said it closed the bridge because it was “not willing to take the risk.” The bridge opened in 1931 and stretches more than a mile across the Ohio River. As part of the Blue…

Kansas governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care for minors, anti-abortion bills

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[ad_1] Kansas’ governor on Friday vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she called a “vague” bill making it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s actions set up a series of confrontations with the Republican-supermajority Legislature over those issues. The measures appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override vetoes, but GOP leaders’ success depends on how many lawmakers are absent on a given day, especially…

Trump and Mike Johnson zero in on noncitizen voting. It’s already illegal and very rare.

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[ad_1] Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) hold a press conference at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida.  Joe Raedle | Getty Images Former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson pitched new legislation to crack down on noncitizen voting on Friday, despite the fact the practice is already illegal and occurs rarely. Johnson said House Republicans would introduce a bill to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, speaking at Mar-a-Lago next to…

Biden says he expects Iranian strike on Israel 'sooner than later'

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[ad_1] US President Joe Biden makes a virtual address to the National Action Network Convention, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2024.  Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images President Joe Biden said Friday that he expects Iran will strike Israel soon, and reiterated that the U.S. would support and defend Israel if such an attack occurred. At a White House event, when asked by reporters how imminent he thought an attack by Iran could be, Biden said…

Former U.S. Ambassador Is Sentenced to 15 Years for Acting as Cuban Agent

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[ad_1] A former United States ambassador accused of working for decades as a secret agent for Cuba in one of the biggest national security breaches in years pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Manuel Rocha, 73, pleaded guilty to two charges — conspiring to defraud the United States as a foreign agent and failing to register as a foreign agent — as part of an agreement with the federal government. He also faces three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine. Mr. Rocha,…

Kamala Harris to blame Trump for abortion bans during Arizona visit

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[ad_1] Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to Tucson Friday to cast former President Donald Trump as the architect of the restrictive abortion bans emerging nationwide in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the federal right to an abortion. Harris is making her second trip to the battleground state of Arizona this year, days after the state Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.  “Donald Trump is the architect of this health care crisis,” Harris is expected to say, according to an…

Trump tries to boost support for Truth Social as his media stock tanks

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[ad_1] Donald Trump on Friday urged his followers to support his social media app Truth Social, as its parent company’s stock continues to sink lower. Trump in a post on that app said he believes Truth Social embodies the political “movement” behind his “Make America Great Again” presidential campaign slogan, adding that “it shows the Spirit and Love of our Country.” “If people who believe in putting America First and want to Make America Great Again, support TRUTH,” Trump wrote. “We will be your Voice like never before, and a…

Surveillance Bill Clears Key Hurdle in House, Putting It Back on Track

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[ad_1] The House took a critical first step on Friday toward reauthorizing a law extending an expiring warrantless surveillance law that national security officials say is crucial to fighting terrorism, voting to take it up two days after a previous attempt to pass it collapsed. Grasping to salvage the measure before the law expires next week, Speaker Mike Johnson put forward a shorter extension — two years instead of five — in a move that appeared to win over hard-right Republicans who blocked the bill earlier this week. On a…

Colorado group says it has enough signatures for abortion rights ballot measure this fall

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[ad_1] A Colorado campaign that’s trying to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution has gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot this November, CBS News has learned.  To amend Colorado’s constitution, petitioners must gather 124,238 signatures from the state’s voters, including 2% of the total registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts, according to the secretary of state’s office. Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom said its volunteers gathered more than 225,000 signatures and met the district requirements, as well. The deadline to turn the…

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appeals fraud conviction, 25-year prison sentence

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[ad_1] Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, arrives at court as lawyers push to persuade the judge overseeing his fraud case not to jail him ahead of trial, at a courthouse in New York, August 11, 2023. Eduardo Munoz | Reuters A lawyer for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday filed a notice of appeal of his federal fraud and conspiracy conviction and his 25-year prison sentence. Bankman-Fried’s appeal came two weeks after he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and ordered to pay $11…