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Hurricane, shooting test DeSantis leadership as he trades the campaign trail for crisis management

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

First a shooting, then a storm.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing a one-two punch testing his leadership at a critical moment for his presidential campaign, with the Republican moving to cast aside his role as culture warrior and show the country that he can govern through crises.His first challenge came last weekend when a white gunman killed three Black people at a convenience store in Jacksonville in a racist hate crime. Days later, Hurricane Idalia was barreling towards Florida’s Big Bend region. The storm, which made landfall as a Category 3, left a trail of devastation, snapping trees, ripping off roofs and inundating areas with surging flood waters.The back-to-back emergencies forced DeSantis off a campaign trail defined by partisan political barbs and gave him a chance to display competence under pressures similar to those he could face if elected president.“I think it’s an opportunity to show executive leadership. I think the public has clear expectations of what lea...

Rishi Sunak’s comms chief quits after less than a year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak’s Director of Communications Amber de Botton has quit Downing Street after less than a year in the job.In a statement, posted on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, de Botton said it was the “right time” to move on. She thanked colleagues, adding: “No10 is a demanding and high pressure place to work – yet the professionalism and talent they display every day is exceptional.”Downing Street appears at pains to present the departure as amicable, and in his own statement Sunak thanked de Botton for her “hard work over the past year” paying tribute to her “calm professionalism,” which he said had been “instrumental in ensuring consistency and creativity across Whitehall communications.”De Botton, the former head of U.K. news at the broadcaster ITV, joined Sunak in Downing Street shortly after he became prime minister last October. Her departure comes as Sunak looks to bolster his...

Yankees’ Anthony Volpe’s 20-20 season puts him in rare company that includes Derek Jeter, Mike Trout and Mickey Mantle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

Anthony Volpe’s game-tying home run Thursday in Detroit was much more than a clutch, regular-season blast.The 22-year-old shortstop made history with his three-run shot in the ninth inning, becoming the first Yankee to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in his rookie season.Volpe, a former first-round pick out of New Jersey’s Delbarton School, is only the 14th Yankee in the team’s 121-year history to record a 20-20 season, and the 15th rookie in MLB history to do so.“I never really had goals or anything like that going into the season, numbers-wise, but when you can put yourself in Yankees history, that’s pretty crazy,” Volpe said after the game, which the Yankees lost, 4-3, in extra innings.The impressive feat puts Volpe, who entered Friday with 21 stolen bases, in rare company filled with Hall of Famers, perennial All-Stars and fan favorites.Brett Gardner was the last Yankee to join the 20-20 club, having done so in 2017. Alex Rodriguez is the ...

ACC becomes latest power conference to expand cross-country by adding Stanford, Cal and SMU

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

The Atlantic Coast Conference voted Friday to add Stanford, California and SMU to the league next year, providing a landing spot for two more schools from the disintegrating Pac-12 and creating a fourth super conference in major college sports.The additions make the ACC the latest power conference to expand its membership and footprint westward. Starting in August 2024, the league with Tobacco Road roots in North Carolina will increase its number of football schools to 17 and 18 in most other sports, with Notre Dame remaining a football independent.“We are thrilled to welcome three world-class institutions to the ACC, and we look forward to having them compete as part of our amazing league,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement.Notre Dame is currently the westernmost ACC school in South Bend, Indiana, with Louisville the farthest west among football members. But now, like the Big Ten and Big 12, the ACC will be a cross-country conference. The ACC will span from Boston i...

Anger in Sweden as Nobel Prize organizers invite Russia and Belarus to the award ceremonies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they will boycott this year’s Nobel Prize ceremonies after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its policy and invited Russia, Belarus and Iran who had previously been barred from attending.The Nobel Foundation said that invitations for the 2023 events were extended to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway as that “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.” It was unclear whether the invitations have already been sent.Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT he would not have allowed Russia to attend if it had been his choice.”To isolate Russia in every possible way — militarily, economically — it is necessary,” he told the TT news agency. Kristersson did not comment on whether he would boycott the event, but others were more forthright.Muharrem Demirok, the leader of the Sweden’s small opposition...

North York gas leak forces evacuations, closes stretch of Yonge Street

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

Toronto police closed a stretch of Yonge Street in both directions between Cummer and Hendon avenues and evacuated a building in the area after a gas leak on Friday morning.Police say the leak happened after an excavator hit a gas gas line. Enbridge is now on scene assessing the situation.It’s not clear when the road will be reopened, but occupants of the evacuated building at 5799 Yonge St. have been cleared to return.No injuries have been reported.GAS LEAK: UPDATEYonge St + Cummer Av– Police @TPS32Div is on scene with @Toronto_Fire– Nearby buildings are being evacuated^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 1, 2023

This isn’t what I ordered: Lawsuits accuse Burger King, others of ads that misrepresent their foods

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

Food ads have long made their subjects look bigger, juicier and crispier than they are in real life. But some consumers say those mouthwatering ads can cross the line into deception, and that’s leading to a growing number of lawsuits.Burger King is the latest company in the crosshairs. In August, a federal judge in Florida refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit that claims Burger King’s ads overstate the amount of meat in its Whopper burger and other sandwiches.But Burger King is far from the only one. Perkins Coie, a law firm that tracks class action suits, said 214 were filed against food and beverage companies in 2022 and 101 were filed in the first six months of this year. That’s a huge increase from 2010, when just 45 were filed.Pooja Nair, who represents food and beverage companies as a partner with the Beverly Hills, California-based law firm Ervin Cohen and Jessup, said waves of class action lawsuits started hitting federal courts a few years ago.Some of the first were fa...

A man convicted of murder in Pennsylvania and wanted in Brazil remains at large after prison escape

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A man recently convicted of murder in Pennsylvania for the fatal stabbing his ex-girlfriend remained at large Friday, a day after he escaped from a county jail.Danelo Cavalcante, 34, is also wanted in his native Brazil in a separate slaying and is considered an extremely dangerous person, Chester County prosecutors say.The search continued Friday, with authorities widening the search area, following up on every lead and doing everything they can to find Cavalcante, said Dana Moore, a spokesperson for the Chester County district attorney’s office.Cavalcante escaped Thursday morning and was seen walking on a road near the prison shortly afterward, authorities said. Authorities did not disclose the circumstances of his escape, but said the matter is the subject of an internal investigation.A jury convicted Cavalcante last month of killing Deborah Brandao, his ex-girlfriend, in front of her children in April 2021. Prosecutors have said that he killed Brand...

It’s joy mixed with sorrow as Ukrainian children go back to school in the midst of war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — In a small courtyard at a school in Bucha, scene of some of the worst atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war, Ukrainian children gathered Friday to celebrate the first day of the new school year.First graders dressed in Ukrainian embroidered costume shirts known as vyshyvankas, with neat hairstyles and holding bouquets of flowers, line up hesitantly along an improvised stage. Parents, many struggling to contain their emotions, smile and wave from the crowd, constantly taking photos.But the festive ambiance quickly shifts as the Ukrainian national anthem is played, followed by a solemn minute of silence in memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Onstage, the children stand quietly, and in the audience, some parents quietly wipe away tears.“We are not afraid of war or missiles, because we will overcome everything!” a final year student shouts from the stage.This atmosphere of joy mixed with sorrow sets the tone for the start of the new school year i...

Authorities release bodycam video showing the fatal police shooting of Black woman Ta’Kiya Young

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:41 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio authorities on Friday released bodycam video showing the f atal police shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a young pregnant Black woman.Young’s family has seen the video, the family’s lawyer said Friday. The footage shows Young slowly accelerating toward the officer in her path as he yells for her to stop before firing the single bullet that ended her life. Young, a 21-year-old from Columbus, was pronounced dead shortly after the Aug. 24 shooting outside a grocery store in the suburb of Blendon Township. Her unborn daughter did not survive.The footage, which comes more than a week after her death, showed one officer at the driver’s side window, repeatedly demanding that Young “get out of the car.” Sean Walton, an attorney for the Young family, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the family grew frustrated with delays in the police department timeline of releasing body camera footage publicly.He said the community will be outraged. “She was an una...