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Hundreds of Georgians march in support of country’s candidacy for European Union membership

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Hundreds of people marched in Georgia’s capital Saturday to support the Caucasus region country becoming a candidate for European Union membership. The EU is expected to announce Dec. 15 whether it has decided to grant Georgia candidate status, a crucial milestone for potential membership. The government was told last month that it should officially receive candidacy once it addresses specific shortcomings, including in the fight against corruption and election deficiencies. Participants in the “Your Voice to EU” rally in Tbilisi marched from First Republic Square to Europe Square, where a huge EU flag was unfurled. Organizers said that each star on the flag was made in a different region of Georgia, symbolizing the Georgian people’s unity in the aspiration for their country to join the 27-nation bloc. The march was initiated by President Salome Zourabichvili and organized by civil society groups.“This is a peaceful march, a demonstration of the p...

‘Shadows of children:’ For the youngest hostages, life moves forward in whispers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

HERZLIYA, Israel (AP) — After seven weeks held hostage in the tunnels of Gaza, they are finally free to laugh and chat and play. But some of the children who have come back from captivity are still reluctant to raise their voices above a whisper.In theory, they can eat what they want, sleep as much as they choose and set aside their fears. In practice, some have had to be convinced there’s no longer a need to save a cherished bit of food in case there is none later.At last, the 86 Israelis released during a short-lived truce between their government and Hamas are home. But the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian militants on roughly 20 towns and villages left many of the children among them without permanent homes to go back to. Some of their parents are dead and others are still held hostage, foreshadowing the difficulty of days still ahead.And so, step by step, these children, the mothers and grandmothers who were held alongside them, and their families are testing the ground for a path ...

1 dead, 2 wounded in shooting on West Side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was shot and killed and two other men was wounded early Saturday in a shooting on Chicago’s West Side.Police said the two men were in a car near Hamlin Avenue and North Avenue around 1:20 a.m. and began shooting at another man on the street.That man, who police say is 31-years-old and a concealed carry license holder, returned fire.One of the men in the car was struck in the chest and died, according to police. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines The second man in the car was shot in the shoulder and taken to the hospital in fair condition.The man on the street was shot in his upper body and was taken to the hospital in fair condition, police said.There is no word on charges at this time.

Rain clears out Saturday as temps begin to drop

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

Saturday's morning rain will taper off and temperatures will fall. The area will see gusty WSW winds at 15-35 mph Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here High happened already at 54. We will see around 50 degrees by noon and low 40s by dinnertime. Saturday night is set to be cloudy and breezy with a slight chance of a few flurries. W 10-20 mph Low of 30.Sunday will be cloudy, much colder with some flurries. WNW 5-15 mph High of just 36.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog Extended outlook calls for more sunshine on Monday but temps still quite cold. The work week starts out with temps in the 20s in the morning and only mid 30s in the afternoon. Partly sunny on Tuesday with highs near 40. Mostly sunny on Wednesday with highs in the mid to low 40s. That milder trend continues into Thursday with highs in the mid to upper 40s. 

Here's a list of new Illinois laws going into effect in 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed more than 150 laws that go into effect next year, many on January 1st, 2024.One of the new laws will allow noncitizens to become police officers.Another will give legal recourse to victims of "deepfake" pornography.And another requires all residents who own any of 170 “assault-style weapons” banned under law to register them with the state police.Here is a list of some of the laws going into effect in 2024:Mimimum wage for non-tipped workers increases to $14; for tipped employees, it increases to $8.40.The Digital Forgeries Act will give victims legal recourse if they are the victim of "deep fakes," or digitally altered sexually explicit images.Noncitizen immigrants who have a work permit will be eligible to become police officers.Noncitiezen immigrants can get a standardized driver’s license, replacing the current Temporary Visitor Driver’s LicenseVideoconferencing while driving will be banned.Vaping indoors in p...

Cold front moving through this morning

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect until 9 a.m. for a several counties. Before 6 a.m. Saturday the visibility dropped to .0 at Llano and Marble Falls. This fog will lift once the dry air behind the cold front arrives.Starting foggy in some areasClouds, drizzle, fog, and light rain will be part of the forecast before the cold front. Drier air behind it will send daytime high temperatures into many low 70s. The colder air arrives later this afternoon and tonight. Many lows tomorrow morning will drop to the middle to upper 30s under a clear sky. Winds will be strong tonight, coming out of the north 15 to 20 mph with gusts as high as 25 to 35 mph.Wind speeds/gusts increase this afternoon and tonightMany of you have your holiday decorations up so spend some time this morning making sure they are secure.It is also expected that the cedar count will increase tomorrow and Monday due to the strong winds.The wind speeds will decrease overnight to Sunday morning with lower gust...

Colorado board declares $200,000-a-year cystic fibrosis drug to be affordable

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

Colorado’s new prescription drug review board decided in a first-in-the-nation vote that a medication costing more than $200,000 a year doesn’t qualify as “unaffordable,” based on the drug’s benefits to patients and the availability of coupons to cover out-of-pocket costs.The Prescription Drug Affordability Board unanimously voted against declaring Trikafta — a drug to treat cystic fibrosis — unaffordable at a meeting Friday morning. If the state’s new board had determined the medication was unaffordable, it would have kicked off a process to set a maximum price that the drugmaker could charge Colorado health plans.Six other states also have prescription drug affordability boards, but Friday’s meeting was the first time one of those boards decided whether a specific medication was unaffordable. Colorado went further than some of the other states, giving its board the power to set a maximum price that state-regulated insurance pla...

Gambling, risky pranks and lucrative contracts: Inside the streaming site Kick

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

One day this summer, internet personality Adin Ross switched on his camera and started broadcasting himself live to thousands of fans, sipping a Yerba Mate drink and nodding along to Lil Uzi.Ross soon cut the music and started talking, assuring his fans that he would livestream Jake Paul’s coming boxing match, even though it would violate copyright laws. “I’ll pay the fines,” he promised. Later, he streamed himself playing online slot machines and blackjack on a gambling site, Stake. Once, he streamed pornography. He has hosted Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, and Andrew Tate, an online influencer known for his misogyny who faces human-trafficking charges. As Ross streams, his viewers post a torrent of messages in his channel’s chat feature — some celebrating him, some abusing him with slurs.Welcome to life on Kick, the Wild West of livestreaming — where seemingly any kind of content goes. Since it went live late last year, the upstart platform has made waves in the wo...

49ers-Seahawks preview: 5 keys to winning 11th straight NFC West game

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

SANTA CLARA – Fred Warner’s wise words this past week evoked the magnitude of last Sunday’s 42-19 thrashing by the 49ers in Philadelphia.“Philly is done and over with. We’re not talking about Philly from here on out,” Warner said, “and we’re on to Seattle.”Essentially, the eyes can now be on the 2023 season’s prize, not last season’s Super Bowl bid that died in Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game.When the first-place 49ers (9-3) welcome the Seattle Seahawks (6-6) into Levi’s Stadium for a 1:05 p.m. kickoff Sunday, the focus should strictly be on winning an 11th straight NFC West game and closing in on a second straight division title.But what about a letdown? The 49ers are aware of that danger, having gone through it two months ago, when they followed their 42-10 rout of the Dallas Cowboys by falling 19-17 at the Cleveland Browns to spark a three-game losing streak.Now the 49ers already can clinch a playoff berth, by pairing a win over the Seahawks with a loss from eithe...

Editorial: After Interstate 10 inferno, California should stop leasing freeway land

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:54 GMT

A major Los Angeles freeway was shut down for eight days last month after a crammed state-leased storage area underneath erupted in a massive blaze that damaged the roadway.The same thing could easily happen in the Bay Area, where the California Department of Transportation similarly rents out land below thoroughfares for storage without proper oversight.It’s time for Caltrans to end the reckless program.Caltrans Director Tony Tavares’ own report 11 days after the Interstate 10 inferno shows that the agency is incapable of monitoring the land it leases out for storage — or assessing whether the income justifies the risks.Worse, even when Caltrans knows about hazards, it’s unable to take timely action to avoid a catastrophe.As reporting from the Southern California News Group shows, state inspectors had flagged fire hazards and other lease violations for years at the site where the Interstate 10 fire began.Yet Caltrans did not initiate eviction proceedings against the tenant un...