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2 abortion bans failed, 1 passed in US statehouses this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and a nationwide right to abortion, states are pushing in opposite directions on the issue.This week, one state adopted a ban, two states tried to but didn’t get support from enough lawmakers and three states advanced measures to protect abortion access. These are the latest developments among a slew of legislative and court actions on abortion.Here’s what’s happening:BANNING ABORTIONNorth Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday signed a law that made his state the 14th with a ban in effect on abortions at all stages of pregnancy.The ban has narrow exceptions. Abortions of pregnancies caused by rape or incest are allowed only in the first six weeks. And they’re allowed later only for specific medical emergencies.The practical impact in the state is expected to be small since there have been no abortion clinics there since one moved last year from Fargo to nearby Moorhead, Minnesota.And the ban is expec...

Window to safely airlift people from Sudan closing quickly, Canadian officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

OTTAWA — The commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command says the window is closing quickly to safely airlift people out of Sudan amid fighting between the country’s military and paramilitary forces.Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie says it’s believed a Turkish crew member was injured when one of Turkey’s planes was shot from the ground as it left Khartoum this morning — though it’s not clear which side was responsible. He says that event changed the threat assessment this morning and led to the cancellation of a planned Canadian evacuation flight. A second flight that Canada had planned for this morning was cancelled due to a mechanical issue with the plane’s ramp.But Auchterlonie says the two Hercules planes the Canadian military has deployed to the region are now on the way to Khartoum, where Canadians are waiting for rescue.A senior official from Global Affairs Canada says the government is very confident that enough flights are planned over the ...

Champagne vows to take actions if telecoms don’t reach deal for TTC cell service

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

Canada’s industry minister vowed to step in if Canada’s major telecom providers don’t reach an agreement to ensure wireless service is available for all riders on Toronto’s subway system.Speaking at a press conference in Montreal on Friday, François-Philippe Champagne said he’s not shy about “pushing the telcos to do what’s right for Canadians.”“Because some of them, they listen to me — they tend to do that when I speak about them — if they don’t come to an arrangement together that would serve Canadians, that would increase the coverage, that would increase the 911 services in the subway system in Toronto, we’ll take action and we’ll make sure that we do what’s right for Canadians,” Champagne said.Last week, the minister penned a letter to the executives of Bell Canada, Telus Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. calling on the major carriers to reach a deal that would allow any company to access the TTC’s wireless network a...

OpenAI: ChatGPT back in Italy after meeting watchdog demands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

ChatGPT’s maker said Friday that the artificial intelligence chatbot is available again in Italy after the company met the demands of regulators who temporarily blocked it over privacy concerns.OpenAI said it fulfilled a raft of conditions that the Italian data protection authority wanted satisfied by an April 30 deadline to have the ban on the AI software lifted.“ChatGPT is available again to our users in Italy,” San Francisco-based OpenAI said by email. “We are excited to welcome them back, and we remain dedicated to protecting their privacy.” Generative AI systems like ChatGPT, which use vast pools of online data like digital books, blog posts and other media to generate text, images and other content mimicking human work, have created buzz in the tech world and beyond.But their rapid development has stirred fears among officials and even tech leaders about possible ethical and societal risks, with European Union negotiators scrambling to update draft artificial intelligenc...

Illinois officials: 'Do not eat' these fish from these 10 bodies of water in the state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

ILLINOIS — While the Illinois Department of Public Health has had a statewide fish consumption warning in place for decades, there are 10 locations with specific fish they caution should not be eaten by anyone.The primary cause of the "do not eat" advisories are Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are a group of more than 200 man-made chemicals. Though PCBs were banned in the 1970s because of their ill effects on health, they were so widely used they continue to persist in the environment, according to the IDPH website. Rain showers expected Friday, through the weekend Methylmercury is also to blame for a few of the "do not eat" advisories. It's a "very poisonous form of mercury" which causes damage to the central nervous system. It forms when bacteria react with mercury, according to UCSF Health.Here are the 10 locations and the specific fish for each which should not be eaten, regardless of age or gender:Calumet River System in Cook CountyCommon Carp 12" or longer due to PCBs...

Why the Bears took Darnell Wright in the first round

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

LAKE FOREST — He had a number of players that would fill holes on his roster that were available for selection in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.But when his pick did finally come up on Thursday night, Ryan Poles already had his man in mind, and it was someone that fans may not have expected. With highly-touted defensive tackle Jalen Carter there to pick at No. 9, the Bears' general manager decided to trade back one pick to let the Eagles select him. His eye was on an offensive tackle from Tennessee, who may have slipped off a few fan's radars but certainly not Poles. "He's a tone setter. He plays with an edge to him, which we love. We want more of," said Poles when talking about Tennessee's Darnell Wright, whom the Bears selected with the tenth overall pick.The native of Huntington, West Virginia built himself into one of the best tackles in the SEC during his four years in Knoxville. He played the left and right tackle position, didn't allow a sack in his final 19 games, an...

Peanut butter and ... pickles? New York Times Cooking spurs sticky conversation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

NEW YORK (WPIX) – Twists on the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich are nothing new. But have you ever tried a PB&P? As in, a peanut butter and pickle sandwich?New York Times Cooking on Friday posted a “recipe” for the sandwich, sparking a somewhat nutty conversation on social media about what is – and isn’t – OK when it comes to peanut butter sandwiches.In the article, the author acknowledged the sandwich “does not necessarily need a recipe, given its simplicity,” but added, “it’s an unlikely pairing … and sometimes that is what a recipe is for.”The ingredients include two slices of bread, peanut butter, bread-and-butter pickles and unsalted butter (if desired). The instructions were just as simple: spread peanut butter on both slices of bread, add a layer of pickles to one slice, and bring the two pieces together. MTA ends real-time service alerts on Twitter over new fee The reactions on the New York Times’ Facebook page, however, were more complicated. Some folks ...

These states took action to block, safeguard abortion this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

(The Hill) -- Abortion access has been a patchwork of policies across the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. New restrictions are taking effect in some states, while others are increasingly taking actions to strengthen access. Here's some of what's happened this week.North Dakota bans almost all abortions(AP)Republican Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday signed into law one of the nation's strictest abortion bans. The law will ban abortion at every stage of pregnancy, with some exceptions for victims of rape or incest — but they must get the procedure within six weeks of gestation.The law takes effect immediately, though the state no longer has any abortion clinics. Percentage of teen girls considering, attempting suicide rose in second year of pandemic: CDC North Dakota was one of the states with a "trigger law" that was enacted when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The trigger law banned nearly all abortions and would have made it a felony for a do...

Dylan Mulvaney breaks weeks-long silence over Bud Light backlash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

(The Hill) -- Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney broke her weeks-long silence on social media on Thursday, following the right-wing backlash over her recent partnership with Bud Light.“I’ve been offline for a few weeks, and a lot has been said about me,” Mulvaney said in a video posted to Instagram and TikTok. “It was so loud that I didn’t even feel part of the conversation. So, I decided to take the back seat and let them tucker themselves out.”“But then I remembered that nearly 13 million people at some point enjoyed me enough to hit the follow button on these apps. And I was like wait, wait, wait, I want to talk to those people,” she added.Mulvaney was silent on social media for nearly three weeks after a sponsored Instagram post promoting Bud Light’s March Madness contest last month drew the ire of conservative critics, who called for protests against Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. Dwyane Wade says his family left Florida because they ‘would not be accept...

More lanes will be added to a dangerous stretch of road near Tesla

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:53:23 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A dangerous stretch of road in a part of town that has experienced huge growth, will be getting major safety improvements this year. KXAN Traffic Anchor, Erica Brennes spoke with a man who lives off FM 973, near the Tesla Gigafactory. "It's more common than it should be. I think we definitely need more traffic patterns that will help alleviate some of that mess," Brad Justice lives in a southeast Austin neighborhood near the Tesla factory off FM 973, "I check the traffic every day because I never know which way is gonna be more efficient to get to work and I have to be there at a specific time."This week a car hit and killed a person walking along FM 973, not far from Brad's neighborhood.Another crash this week also caused major delays, "Some people were trying to just get to the airport, which is usually a five-minute drive that was taken an hour and a half."But there are plans in the works to help make it safer for drivers. In October, TxDOT will start constructi...