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New York Times: NY prosecutors signal they’re nearing end of Trump hush money investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

(CNN) — Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office recently offered former President Donald Trump the chance to testify next week before a grand jury that’s been investigating a hush money payment scheme — signaling they are nearing the end of their investigation, The New York Times reported Thursday.Trump’s lawyer recently met with the district attorney’s office, one source told CNN. His legal team has been concerned with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s intentions because of recently ramped up activity at the grand jury, according to another source familiar with the matter. Former Trump White House aides Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway recently appeared before the grand jury.The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment to CNN.“The Manhattan District Attorney’s threat to indict President Trump is simply insane. For the past five years, the DA’s office has been on a Witc...

Suspects called to court after armed robbery in NH, police chase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

Three suspects involved in a high speed police chase this week were called to court Thursday, facing a judge for an arraignment on charges of receiving stolen property.Police put out a “be on the lookout” message for the suspects and their car after an alleged armed robbery in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Wednesday. Police gave chase, eventually catching up with the suspects after police said they crashed their car into a snowbank outside a daycare in Sterling. No one was injured, officials said. State police identified the three suspects as Isaiah Graham, Lacine Cisse and Aguibou Karambe, all of New York. Thursday’s arraignment took place at Clinton District Court. Massachusetts State Police officials said Wednesday that the suspects are expected to face charges in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 

Magic drop third straight to Jazz as Wendell Carter aims to return for next game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

Starting big man Wendell Carter Jr. sat for the third consecutive game in the Orlando Magic’s 131-124 home loss to the Utah Jazz, but he’s hoping to play in the next game.Carter told the Orlando Sentinel ahead of Thursday’s loss that he’s planning to return to the lineup Saturday vs. the Miami Heat at Amway Center, the last of the four-game homestand.He missed Sunday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and Tuesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks because of hip pain.Carter told the Sentinel he started feeling the pain in his hip and groin areas after the team returned to Central Florida from last week’s three-game road trip.He was seen going through on-court exercises after Thursday morning’s shootaround.Carter told the Sentinel he’s feeling good before saying his goal is to return Saturday, which ultimately depends on his evaluation after treatment.“He’s doing everything they’re asking him to do to get him back r...

Man sought after daytime sexual assault of woman at knifepoint in Scarborough

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a man that approached a woman with a knife and sexually assaulted her in Scarborough.Investigators say the incident happened on Tuesday just after 2:30 p.m. in the Pharmacy Avenue and Corinthian Boulevard area.It’s alleged that the suspect walked up to the victim unprovoked and brandished a knife. He put his arm around the woman and forced her to walk with him.Police said the man asked for the woman’s cell phone and threatened her with harm if she did not stay quiet. He proceeded to sexually assault her. At some point, the woman yelled for help and escaped from the man’s grasp, with the suspect fleeing on foot.The man is described as 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8, Black, approximately 25 years old, with a medium build, light beard and black hair.He was last seen wearing a green camouflage jacket with an orange interior, black pants and black boots.

Child marriage ban bill resurrected in West Virginia Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A bill to prohibit minors from getting married in West Virginia was resurrected in the state Senate on Thursday, a day after its defeat in a committee.The about-face didn’t necessarily give the bill a clear path to passage. Several senators gave impassioned speeches after the bill was brought back, some of whom defended the right of teenagers in love to marry.The House of Delegates passed the bill last week. The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly rejected it Wednesday night without debate. Republican Sen. Charles Trump of Morgan County, a committee member, made a motion that was adopted by the full Senate Thursday to withdraw the bill from the committee and give it a second reading. It will be up for a final reading Friday, and the Senate will have the right to amend the bill.Currently, children can marry as young as 16 in West Virginia with parental consent. Anyone younger than that also must get a judge’s waiver.The bill’s main sponsor, Democr...

Source: CFL reaches agreement to sell Montreal Alouettes franchise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

MONTREAL — The CFL has reached an agreement to sell the Montreal Alouettes, according to a source.The source spoke on the condition of anonymity as the CFL hasn’t announced the deal but will do so Friday at a news conference in Montreal.The move comes after the CFL reportedly entered exclusive negotiations with Quebecor Inc. regarding ownership of the franchise.Quebecor Inc.’s president and chief executive officer is Pierre Karl Peladeau, a Montreal businessman who has a reported net worth of US$1.9 billion.It’s unclear if Quebecor or Peladeau will be the franchise owner.The CFL took over operation of the Alouettes last month, appointing former president Mario Cecchini as interim president.The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced on Tuesday that it had hired Cecchini as its commissioner to take over from Gilles Courteau, who stepped down on Sunday after 37 years on the job.But the league said Cecchini wouldn’t take office immediately because he was inv...

Railroad group warns that car flaw could cause derailments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. railroads were warned to take certain cars out of service Thursday after Norfolk Southern discovered loose wheels on a car involved in last weekend’s derailment in Ohio.It’s not clear that the loose wheels caused the derailment near Springfield last Saturday because the National Transportation Safety Board has just begun investigating that crash — the latest in a string of high-profile derailments that have been grabbing headlines. But the railroad said the loose wheels on the car could cause a derailment.Norfolk Southern said in a statement that after the railroad discovered “additional cases of unusual wheel movement,” it acted quickly to notify accident investigators and the rest of the industry. The Association of American Railroads trade group responded Thursday by issuing an advisory about the suspect cars.The trade group said the problem was linked to new wheel sets that were installed on specialized steel coil cars beginning in August. The...

Malaysia ex-PM Muhyiddin charged with corruption, laundering

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was charged Friday with corruption and money laundering, making him Malaysia’s second ex-leader to be indicted after leaving office.Muhyiddin, 75, pleaded innocent to four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($51.4 million) bribes for his party and two charges of money laundering involving 195 million ringgit ($43 million). He has been released on bail.Muhyiddin was arrested Thursday by the anti-graft agency, which questioned him over government stimulus projects to ethnic Malay contractors during the COVID-19 pandemic. He then slammed the charges against him as political persecution to crush his opposition alliance ahead of state elections. Outside the court building Friday, some supporters carried banners which read “malicious intent.”Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim rejected accusations that the charges were politically motivated and noted the investigations were carried out independen...

La Nina is gone. These were the deadly storms during its run

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

La Nina seemed to treat Louisiana and the rest of the Southeast United States like a punching bag. Its three-year barrage of body blows has come to an end, but left behind a lot of scars from hurricanes and tornadoes among other weather disasters.Experts caution that attributing any single event to La Nina or its better-known cousin, El Nino, is difficult as they pronounced Thursday that the La Nina weather phenomenon has come to an end. But they can say generally that tornadoes in the Southeast and hurricanes are more frequent during La Nina.Here are some examples of the 44 different billion-dollar extremes of nasty weather during La Nina’s reign:1. A historic December 2021 tornado outbreak in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas that killed 93 people and caused $4.2 billion in damage. Tornadoes twisted across 800 miles, including one single tornado that plowed across nearly 166 miles of Kentucky and a bit of Tennessee. At the time scientists attributed warm air during a cold...

Raptors’ Fred VanVleet fined $30,000 for publicly criticizing NBA referee

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:45:37 GMT

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet has been fined $30,000 for comments he made following the team’s 108-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.Afterwards, the Raptors point guard paused for a moment and said, “I don’t mind; I’ll take a fine; I don’t really care.”“I thought Ben Taylor was f–g terrible tonight,” he began. “I think that most nights, you know, out of the three [referees], there’s one or two that just f–k the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row. Denver was tough, obviously.”Fred VanVleet fined 30k for this. pic.twitter.com/JLSLxfORRq— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 10, 2023“You come out tonight, competing pretty hard, and I get a bulls–t tech that changes the whole dynamic of the game, changed the whole flow of the game,” VanVleet continued.“And you know, most of the refs are trying hard, I like a lot of the refs, they’re trying hard, the...