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Book ban attempts in U.S. hit record high in 2022, library org says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

By HILLEL ITALIE (AP National Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association released Thursday.More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.“I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”Thursday’s report not only documents the growing number of challenges, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “...

Stocks rise to recover much of steep loss from day before

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

By STAN CHOE (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising Thursday to recover much of their steep loss from a day before, when markets tumbled into the close. The S&P 500 was 1% higher in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231 points, or 0.7%, at 32,261, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher. A day earlier, stocks fell sharply after the Federal Reserve indicated that while the end may be near for its market-rattling hikes to interest rates, it still doesn’t expect to cut rates this year. Markets lost momentum after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that, along with an insistence that it could keep raising rates if inflation stays high. But traders on Thursday were still largely betting the Fed will cut rates later this year. Such cuts can act like steroids for markets, juicing prices for stocks, bonds and other investments. They would relax the pressure on the economy, but they could also give inflation more...

WEEI’s Chris Curtis suspended after his comment about Mina Kimes, said he tried to make a ‘sexist’ joke and it came out racist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

WEEI producer Chris Curtis has been suspended following his comment about ESPN’s Mina Kimes, apologizing on Thursday for his “stupid lame attempt at a joke.”Curtis has been facing heat since he called Kimes a “nip” during a recent segment on The Greg Hill Show. The sports talk radio show hosts were discussing their favorite alcohol nips, as the Boston City Council explores whether the city should ban the small liquor bottles.The word “nip” is an ethnic slur against Japanese people, and Kimes is Asian-American.Curtis at the start of Thursday’s show said he meant to say the actress Mila Kunis instead of Kimes.“In a pathetic failed attempt at a one-liner, I attempted to bring up Mila Kunis, which was not really that funny, sophomoric and sexist,” Curtis said. “But for reasons I don’t understand, I said Mina Kimes.“That was never the intention for me to say her name,” he added. “It had nothing to d...

Ex-Westfield police detective convicted of killing his wife

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

SPRINGFIELD — A former Massachusetts police detective has been convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death nearly five years ago of his wife, which was originally ruled a suicide.Former Westfield Detective Brian Fanion was sentenced Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court to a mandatory term of life in prison after being found guilty by a jury of killing Amy Fanion, 51, in May 2018.The prosecutor said Brian Fanion was having an affair and did not want to share his pension with his wife. Authorities said in court that the detective used his work computer to look up the effect of divorce on a pension, and also made internet searches about gunshot residue, which were not related to any investigations he was involved in.“Mr. Fanion’s behavior was calculating and shockingly cruel,” Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in a statement. “I commend the members of the jury who saw through his defense and held him accountable. This result illustrates that no matter your positi...

Police: Driver veered into highway work zone, killing 6

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

WOODLAWN, Md. (AP) — New details are emerging about a crash along the Baltimore beltway Wednesday that left six construction workers dead after a driver lost control of her vehicle, which went careening into a work zone, according to Maryland State Police.Lisa Adrienna Lea, 54, was identified as the driver of a gray Acura headed northbound on Interstate 695 near the Security Boulevard exit when she went to change lanes and struck the front passenger side of a Volkswagen, state police said in a news release late Wednesday. The impact caused her to lose control, and her vehicle ended up traveling between the temporary jersey walls of the construction zone.Police said Lea was taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center for treatment of the injuries she sustained in the crash, which closed the beltway for hours in both directions, snarling traffic along the west side of the highway that encircles Baltimore. She was the sole occupant of the Acura.Emergency pe...

Why you should bench credit cards for March Madness bets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

By the end of the 2023 NCAA tournament, an estimated one in four Americans will have wagered $15.5 billion in bets on the various games, according to the American Gaming Association. Last year, Matt Cappelen — a 34-year-old firefighter from Elk Grove Village, Illinois — would have been in the middle of the action. For this year’s dance, though, he’ll be sitting on the sidelines of the betting game.“I’ve always been a die-hard sports fan,” Cappelen said. “Pretty much anything that involves a winner and a loser, I loved.”Since legal online sports betting was first made available in Illinois in 2020, the fun of sports had only gotten that much bigger for Cappelen.“I was able to combine making money, or so I thought, and sports,” he said. “What better way to do that than with gambling?”But in the three years since, Cappelen built up $83,000 in gambling debts on sites like Bovada and FanDuel. Up to 90% of that, he says, was done on credit cards. “You feel like you’re playing with fake mo...

Zellers opens a dozen stores in Canada amid wave of nostalgia and price sensitivity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

Canadian retail chain Zellers marked its official comeback on Thursday with the opening of a dozen stores in Ontario and Alberta and new website.The relaunch of the popular discount department store comes amid a wave of nostalgia for the brand and growing demand for affordable goods amid sky-high inflation. The company plans to open 25 stores in total.The 10,000 square foot stores will be located within Hudson’s Bay department stores and feature an assortment of private-label products, including clothing, toys and home and living items.Tiffany Bourré, a spokeswoman for Hudson’s Bay Co., says the products are exclusive to Zellers and there is no crossover of product with Hudson’s Bay stores.The company has also launched a new Zellers e-commerce website, with all items online and in-store featuring so-called rounded pricing, so for example $5 rather than $4.99 or $5.49. Bourré says it’s about offering customers a “simplified and easy” shopping experience ...

IMF warns without reforms, Lebanon could see hyperinflation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The International Monetary Fund gave a grim assessment Thursday of Lebanon’s prospects for getting out of its deepening financial crisis, saying that without reforms, the country is headed for hyperinflation. Since late 2019, tiny Lebanon has fallen into the worst economic crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by a political class that has ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. Three-quarters of Lebanon’s population of over 6 million, including a million Syrian refugees, now lives in poverty and inflation is soaring.Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the head of the IMF mission visiting Lebanon, said at a news conference Thursday that continued inaction by Lebanese leaders would leave the nation in a “never-ending crisis” in which it could spiral into hyperinflation, “affecting the quality of life of many Lebanese for years to come.”The IMF visit came as progress towards finalizing a sorely needed IMF bailout package for ...

NC approves Medicaid expansion, reversing long opposition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Medicaid expansion deal in North Carolina received final legislative approval on Thursday, likely ending a decade of debate over whether the closely politically divided state should accept the federal government’s coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. North Carolina is one of several Republican-led states that have begun considering expanding Medicaid after years of steadfast opposion. Voters in South Dakota approved expansion in a referendum in November. And in Alabama, advocates are urging lawmakers to take advantage of federal incentives to expand Medicaid in order to provide health insurance to thousands of low-income people.Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a longtime expansion advocate, is expected to sign the bill, which would leave 10 states in the U.S. that haven’t adopted expansion. North Carolina has 2.9 million enrollees in traditional Medicaid coverage. Advocates have estimated that expansion could help 600,000 adults.The ...

Nebraska Legislature set to vote on transgender health bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Legislature was set to vote Thursday on a contentious bill that seeks to ban gender-affirming care for minors and led one lawmaker to stage a weekslong filibuster.The vote to advance the bill was expected on the third day of debate in which lawmakers have angrily accused one another of hypocrisy and a lack of collegiality. It also saw Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt promising to join fellow Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh’s effort to filibuster every bill that comes before lawmakers for the rest of the 90-day session if the bill advances. Hunt took to the floor of the Legislature on Wednesday to confess that the debate is deeply personal for her, because her teenage son is transgender. She called the bill an affront to her as a parent and called out by name lawmakers she would hold accountable if they vote to advance it.“If this bill passes, all your bills are on the chopping block, and the bridge is burned,” she said. “I’m not doing anything for you. Bec...