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Editorial: Gender reveal party tragedies mount – they must stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Gender reveal parties have come a long way from releasing pink or blue balloons and frosting cupcakes. They’ve escalated to using smoke bombs and pyrotechnics to announce the “big reveal,” resulting in injuries, wildfires and death.They need to stop.On Sunday, a gender reveal party in Mexico featured a pilot releasing pink smoke from his plane. According to a video posted online, the plane’s left wing appeared to separate from the fuselage as it flew away from the group of people below.The plane crashed, and according to reports, the pilot died after being taken to a hospital.This wasn’t the only tragedy to stem from a gender reveal.A Southern California couple set off a smoke bomb at their Sept. 5, 2020 gender reveal. It sparked the El Dorado wildfire that burned more than 22,000 acres. One firefighter was killed battling the flames and two others were injured, according to reports.The Sawmill Fire of 2017 was caused by a father-to-be detonating a target pac...

Millard: Biden’s union subsidies clash with green agenda: experts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

President Biden told an audience of unionized workers in Philadelphia in July month that his drive for green energy means jobs for them.“A lot of my friends in organized labor know: When I think climate, I think jobs. I think union jobs,” Biden said.But for climate activists, “union jobs” can mean “more carbon and less green energy.”And that, some economists say, is the contradiction at the center of the administration’s policy of spending billions on green energy projects and paying incentives to meet higher “prevailing wage” mandates.“It’s obviously a terrible strategy,” National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad said. “They’re trying to shut down the vast majority of the workforce to help out Joe Biden’s union buddies who spent $2 million to get him elected.”Just 6% of the private-sector labor force belongs to a union.Biden acknowledged the Inflation Reduction Act was misnamed, saying it was “the single-largest investment in climate action in American history.” T...

Dear Abby: Husband’s daughter decides new wife is the enemy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been married to “Frank” for 2 1/2 years. We met and married quickly. Best decision ever. We each had raised two daughters as single parents with different parenting styles. Our girls now range in age from 30 to 33. They are adults with lives and children of their own.My daughters have accepted and come to love Frank. They have always been respectful and inclusive. In the beginning, his daughters treated me OK. But after six months, the older one decided I could not be around her children because I “don’t like her.” I always treated her respectfully and did many things for her and her kids — babysitting, buying them things they needed, twice offering a place to stay when she was going through a divorce.She was always the boss of her father, and he puts her first over all else. There were things they would do secretly and exclude me. Now he doesn’t see them at all. They don’t talk; they explode. I’m certain at som...

As sports betting spikes, help for problem gamblers expands in some states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

When the NFL season kicks off this week, Kentucky residents and visitors — for the first time — will be able to legally place sports bets on something other than horse racing. When they do, some of that money will also fund the state’s first-ever program for people with gambling problems. Since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for legalized sports betting five years ago, nearly three-fourths of the states have moved swiftly to allow it. State funding for problem gambling services has not kept pace, although more states — like Kentucky — are requiring at least a portion of sports wagering revenues to go toward helping addicted gamblers.“The funding is starting to flow, but the amount is still clearly inadequate in most states,” said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He added: “Most of these amounts are token.” Legal sports betting operators took in $220 billion during the past five years, generating $3 billion in state and local ...

The impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to begin in the Texas Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate is set to gavel in Tuesday for the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a political reckoning of years of alleged corruption that could lead to his permanent ouster from office.The fate of Paxton, a 60-year-old Republican, is in the hands of GOP senators with whom he served before winning a statewide race to take charge of the attorney general’s office in 2015.In an era of bitter partisanship, the historic proceeding is a rare instance of a political party seeking to hold one of its own to account for allegations of wrongdoing. The impeachment also came as a sudden rebuke to Paxton, who has built a national profile fighting high-profile legal battles, including trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and who won a third term in 2022 despite long-pending state criminal charges and an FBI investigation.The Republican-led House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Paxton in May, largely based on his forme...

Utah special election primary offers glimpse into Republican voters’ thoughts on Trump indictments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Utah’s special election primary on Tuesday to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart could offer a glimpse into how Republican voters feel about a string of indictments against former President Donald Trump that haven’t deterred him from charging ahead with his 2024 presidential run. GOP voters in Utah’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District will choose between a trio of candidates that include former state lawmaker and Trump critic Becky Edwards. She will face off against former congressional staffer Celeste Maloy, who was Stewart’s chief legal counsel and has his endorsement, and Bruce Hough, a committeeman for the Republican National Committee for over a decade. Stewart, a six-term Republican and veteran of the U.S. Air Force, set off a scramble to fill his seat when he announced in May he was resigning because his wife is ill. He plans to step down Sept. 15 after 10 years in office. The primary winner will be the favorite against Democratic state Sen. Kathleen...

Stock market today: Asian shares fall back amid selling of China property shares

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

Shares fell back Tuesday in Asia after U.S. markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday. U.S. futures also were lower and oil prices were mixed. Hong Kong fell more than 1% as Chinese property stocks declined as investors sold to lock in gains fueled by recent efforts to support the ailing industry.China Vanke lost 1.2%, while Country Garden Holdings gave up 2%. Hong Kong-based Sun Hung Kai Properties shed 2.4%. Chinese services data came in weaker than expected, dulling hopes for a rebound in China’s lackluster growth. A survey showed business activity in China’s services sector increased at the slowest pace in eight months. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.4% to 18,575.00 while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.6% to 3,157.86. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% to 32,870.00 as the government reported weak household spending figure for August. In Seoul, the Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,577.71. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5% to 7,279.30. Share...

Rhode Island voters to decide Democratic and Republican primary races for congressional seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

TO MOVE 12:01 a.m. ET TUESDAY, SEPT 5; Grygiel editedPhotos RI101-104 of the four top Democratic candidates are on hold in NY.===Rhode Island voters are casting their ballots Tuesday in a primary contest to winnow down a field of candidates vying for the U.S. House seat vacated by former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, including a handful who could make history by being the first person of color to go on to be elected to Congress from Rhode Island.Nearly a dozen Democrats are hoping to be their party’s nominee. Cicilline stepped down earlier this summer to become the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation. Two Republican candidates are also facing off in the GOP primary in the heavily Democratic state. The last Republican to represent the 1st Congressional District was Rep. Ron Machtley who served from 1989 to 1995.Among the presumed pack of Democratic front-runners are Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, state Sen. Sandra Cano, and form...

Biden to award Medal of Honor to Army helicopter pilot who rescued soldiers in a Vietnam firefight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor on Tuesday to a Vietnam War Army helicopter pilot who risked his life by flying into heavy enemy fire to save four members of a reconnaissance team from almost certain death as they were about to be overrun. Biden is recognizing retired Capt. Larry Taylor of Tennessee at the White House.On the night of June 18, 1968, then-1st Lt. Taylor flew his Cobra attack helicopter to rescue the men after they had become surrounded by the enemy.Taylor, now 81, recalled in an interview last week that he had to figure out how to get them out, otherwise “they wouldn’t make it.”David Hill, one of the four Taylor saved that night, said his actions were what “we now call thinking outside the box.”Hill and the others were on a night mission to track the movement of enemy troops in a village near the Saigon River when they were discovered by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. An intense firefight ensued and soon they were runn...

Congress returns to try to stave off a government shutdown while GOP weighs impeachment inquiry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:10:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of struggling to find agreement on just about anything in a divided Congress, lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill to try to avert a government shutdown, even as House Republicans consider whether to press forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.A short-term funding measure to keep government offices fully functioning will dominate the September agenda, along with emergency funding for Ukraine, federal disaster funds and the Republican-driven probe into Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.Time is running short for Congress to act. The House is scheduled to meet for just 11 days before the government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, leaving little room to maneuver. And the dealmaking will play out as two top Republicans, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, deal with health issues.The president and congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are focused on ...