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Biden names CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden elevated CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet on Friday, a symbolic move that underscores the intelligence chief's influence and his work in U.S. support for Ukraine. In a statement, Biden said Burns had “harnessed intelligence to give our country a critical strategic advantage" and credited his “clear, straightforward analysis that prioritizes the safety and security of the American people.”Burns has been a central figure in the Biden administration, particularly in the White House strategy to declassify intelligence findings that Russia was intending to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A career diplomat and former ambassador to Russia, Burns was sent to Moscow months before the war to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin of Washington's analysis.In the nearly 18 months since Putin invaded, the U.S. has provided intelligence support to Ukraine along with weapons and ammunition. Burns has gone to Kyiv repeatedly to meet with Ukrain...

House bill raises retirement age to quell pilot shortage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – Lawmakers in Washington say they've found a solution for the pilot shortage by increasing the retirement age, a move that major pilot associations oppose out of safety concerns.Lawmakers are celebrating a bipartisan agreement to fund the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years, which they say will also tackle major issues like “addressing workforce shortages in the aviation sector,” according to Rep. Don Davis (D-NC).The legislation cleared the House on Thursday and now heads to the Senate. It includes a provision to raise the pilot retirement age from 65 to 67, a move that Senator Lindsey Graham says will "allow thousands of experienced and well-trained pilots to stay on the job."However, Captain Dennis Tajer says while the idea sounds good, the reality is different.“Issues that may not keep someone from working as an attorney or as a doctor, keep you out of the flight deck,” Tajer said.Tajer has been a pilot for over 30 years and is the spoke...

Rite Aid customers' personal information accessed in data breach

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – If you are a customer of Rite Aid, an "unknown third party" may have accessed your personal information in a recent data breach, the company says.In a release obtained by Nexstar's WDTN, Rite Aid said the company learned on May 31 that a "vulnerability" in a vendor partner's software had been exploited. ‘This is not American’: Sheryl Crow responds to Jason Aldean’s controversial song Rite Aid said that once it was told about the exploit, it installed and updated its systems as well as the provider's software. In the process, Rite Aid discovered that, on May 27, the "third party" managed to access files containing personal customer information.Customer information in the files included:Patient First and Last NameDate of BirthAddressPrescription InformationLimited Insurance InformationCardholder IDPlan NameSocial Security numbers and credit card numbers were not accessed in the breach, according to Rite Aid."We regret that this incident occurred," Rite Aid says...

Republicans rush to defend Jason Aldean and 'Try That in a Small Town'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

Republicans are mounting up to defend Jason Aldean's song "Try That in a Small Town" and its music video against accusations of racist imagery and threats of violence.Aldean’s video, which went up on YouTube last week and quickly drew attention on social media, features clips of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests interspersed with footage of crimes — including an apparent convenience store robbery, a carjacking and depictions of people setting American flags on fire.“Stomp on the flag and light it up. Yeah, you think you’re tough,” he sings. “Well, try that in a small town — See how far ya make it down the road.”But perhaps what’s raised the most eyebrows is the location where the video was the shot: the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. In 1927, 18-year-old Henry Choate was famously lynched at the courthouse, his body hanged off the balcony after he was accused of assaulting a white girl who never identified him. The building also played a part in the “Columbia race riot” o...

Iowa poll shows Scott gaining on DeSantis; Trump with commanding lead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

A new poll out of Iowa shows Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) gaining momentum on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the 2024 presidential race, though former President Trump maintains a commanding lead.The survey, which was paid for by the Trump campaign and shared exclusively with The Hill, found 46 percent of likely GOP caucus participants in the Hawkeye State support the former president.It found 16 percent of those surveyed said they support DeSantis, who is running in second place. And it showed Scott polling in third place with 10 percent support.Scott entered the race the same week as DeSantis, and he has typically polled in single digits on the national level. A super PAC backing the senator announced this week it would spend $40 million on TV and digital ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina this fall to further boost Scott’s White House bid.This latest poll comes about six months before the state’s caucuses.Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative entrepreneur, polled at 5 percent,...

JFK's grandson calls RFK Jr.'s White House bid 'an embarrassment,' endorses Biden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

The grandson of former President John F. Kennedy is ripping Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 White House bid and throwing his support behind President Biden.“President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather. And his legacy is important,” Jack Schlossberg, the 30-year-old son of U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, said in a video posted Friday on Instagram.“It's about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It's about public service and courage,” Schlossberg continued.Endorsing Biden’s reelection campaign, he said the 46th president “shares my grandfather's vision for America: That we do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”“He is in the middle of becoming the greatest progressive president we've ever had,” he said, citing unemployment and jobs figures, infrastructure and green energy investments and the appointment of federal judges.“He ended the COVID pandemic and he ended Donald Trump,” Schlossberg added before blasting his cousin Kenne...

Isolated weekend storms bring little heat relief

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today is expected to be our 6th-straight day of exceeding or matching the daily record, a mark we've only reached in Austin once, back in the year 2000.Austin's forecast high of 105° is likely to tie the record we set just last year. Mainly sunny skies, dry conditions and muggy conditions can be expected areawide.Tonight will be mostly clear with some patchy low clouds by morning. Overnight lows in the upper 70s should fall just cool enough to avoid a record warm low.In case you missed it: Austin set an all-time record for number of consecutive days with highs of 105°+. The streak is now at 11 days, but we may drop below that magical number by the end of this weekend.Heat Advisories have been extended through Saturday at 8 p.m. These heat alerts will likely be further extended into the weekend and beyond. Heat Advisory extended into the weekendWeekend storm chanceA cool front dropping in on Saturday will not bring any noticeable temperature changes, but could act as...

APD hints at possible operation targeting open-air drug sales in downtown Austin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- During the Downtown Public Safety Commission Forum Thursday, the Austin Police Department said it is working to crack down on open-air drug sales in downtown Austin.Police at the meeting said complaints of shoplifting, public drunkenness and people dealing drugs in alleys in the streets are what most people walking downtown notice. Woman says she called retired officer when she couldn’t get through to Austin 911 Based on those complaints, police hinted at an operation targeting open-air drug sales.Police leaders said APD is finishing up an operation plan that was set forth by City of Austin Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills, who identified three areas where he wanted more police patrol.Furthermore, police leaders said those corridors are the Brazos Street corridor from Third Street up to Sixth Street, Congress Avenue from Fourth Street up to Eighth Street, West Third Street and the area surrounding Republic Square Park.The lieutenant promised people in the area w...

Concert review: Beyonce delivers meticulously crafted concert spectacular beneath the stars

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

The summer’s second in a would-be trilogy of pop music spectaculars all but took over Huntington Bank Stadium Thursday night as Beyonce thrilled a crowd of about 35,000 with an eye-popping, meticulously planned and executed evening of outsized, celebratory song and dance.Taylor Swift kicked it off last month with two sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium shows that stand among the finest-ever live pop music productions. Madonna was set to wrap the trifecta July 30 at Xcel Energy Center until she was hospitalized with a “serious bacterial infection” following weeks of relentless tour rehearsals and forced to postpone the outing’s North American leg. (The move has caused many fans to speculate her health problems are far more serious than what they’ve been told.)Like all three women, the 41-year-old Beyonce is well-known for wielding an iron fist over all aspects of her music, career and image and that fact was on full display Thursday night. (That included not allowing local p...

Flood cleanup could take weeks, after "catastrophic" flooding

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:13:57 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – This week on Empire State Weekly, severe thunderstorms rolled through the Northeast this week. Many areas experienced significant damage with cleanup now expected to take weeks. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Jackie Bray, the Commissioner of the State Division Of Homeland Security and Emergency Services explained that heavy equipment and teams of volunteers have been called in to help with the cleanup."Just to give you a sense of scale 8 inches of rain is 80 inches of snow it's a tremendous amount of precipitation we get 8 inches of rain over the entire summer in a heavy rain summer so this was a really catastrophic and historic rain event and the flooding was catastrophic. " Said Bray.Also this week State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, representative for Assembly District 111, reacted to the ongoing arrival of migrants from New York City in the capitol region. In Rotterdam c"Same sort of secrecy sam...