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Top Missouri lawmaker moves to strip library funding

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A powerful Missouri state lawmaker on Tuesday moved to strip state funding for public libraries over a fight about books.Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith's budget proposal, unveiled Tuesday, would cut all $4.5 million in state funding that libraries were slated to get next fiscal year.Smith said he's upset that state and school libraries are suing to overturn a new Missouri law that bans sexually explicit material in school libraries. He said the state shouldn't subsidize the lawsuit with funding. Top story: Missing St. Charles woman found dead; 1 man in custody The ACLU, the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association in February asked the Circuit Court in Kansas City to find the law unconstitutional or clarify how and when it applies.The law does not apply to written descriptions of sex or sexual acts; only photos, drawings, videos and other visual depictions are prohibited.Librarians and other sc...

Attorney seen on video groping clients avoids disbarment in Missouri

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court decided Tuesday not to disbar a defense attorney, who was caught on video groping six clients in a jail interview room, in a courthouse and while behind the wheel.The 4-3 ruling to indefinitely suspend 86-year-old Dan Purdy will allow him to apply for reinstatement after a year, The Kansas City Star reports. A disciplinary hearing panel had recommended disbarment for the attorney, and Judge Zel Fischer blasted the majority's decision in his dissent.“There may have been a time when a temporary suspension was an adequate punishment for sexually assaulting or harassing a client, vulnerable or otherwise," Fischer wrote. “But," he added, "in my view, that time is long gone.”In the majority ruling, Judge George Draper acknowledged Purdy, who is based in Osceola, Missouri, had committed the assaults and severely faulted him for his conduct.Video provided by the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office showed Purdy making sexual advances in S...

In a league of their own: Baseball player Toni Stone and Lady Macbeth take center stage

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

“Toni Stone” encourages its titular baseball phenom to aim for the fences, and actor Kenya Mahogany Fashaw does just that in the Aurora Fox production running through April 2. And she decidedly connects.Playwright Lydia R. Diamond (and could a name resonate any better with a play about baseball?) pays homage to the first woman to play ball on a professional men’s team.Fictional pitching ace Max Chapman in Amazon’s reboot of “A League of Their Own” is modeled on Stone, as well as Black ballplayers Mamie Johnson and Connie Morgan (and softball great Billie Harris). Diamond based the play on journalist and female-achievement chronicler Martha Ackmann’s biography “Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, the First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League.”Toni cautions at the play’s start that she’s not one to tell a linear tale. “I’m prone to ramblin.’ Never could tell a story from beginning to end all nice and neat. My brain don’t work like that,” she confesses af...

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, a ‘careful lawyer,’ poised to bring charges against Trump

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

Weeks into his new job as Manhattan district attorney last year, Alvin Bragg faced a firestorm: Two senior prosecutors heading the office’s four-year investigation of Donald Trump wanted an immediate indictment of the former president.Bragg told them the case wasn’t ready. The men quit in frustration, and it quickly spread that Bragg was abandoning the Trump investigation. It was a disastrous start to Bragg’s tenure at One Hogan Place.A year after that momentous decision, the 49-year-old Harlem native is poised to become the first prosecutor to file criminal charges against Trump, which will turn him into a hero for the former president’s foes and a target of hatred for millions of Trump supporters.Trump has already decried the investigation as a political witch hunt, labeling Bragg, who is Black, a “racist” and urging his supporters to protest any attempt to arrest and prosecute him. New York City is already bracing for what would be an unprecede...

California's all-time snowpack record within reach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

Climatologists will be talking about California’s 2022-2023 snow year for decades.With less than two weeks remaining in the traditional “wet season,” data collected by California’s Department of Water Resources on Tuesday showed statewide snowpack at an astounding 225% of average for this date (March 21), and 219% of a full year’s average.The Southern Sierra, which has the deepest snow, reached 277% of the average. Snowpack in the Central Sierra is 227% and the Northern Sierra/Trinity region is 182% of average, according to DWR. California snowpack measurements for March 21, 2023 (California Department of Water Resources)The Southern Sierra region is pacing well above the previous record year of 1982-1983 and the Central Sierra is not far behind.“There is more snow water equivalent in the Southern Sierra than at any point at least since the 1950s … and likely longer than that,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Los Angeles. April 1 is typically...

Orange County man pleads guilty to felony charge for role in Jan. 6 insurrection

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

A Florida man who previously resided in Orange County has pleaded guilty to one felony charge related to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol.Kevin Louis Galetto, 63, pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers.Galetto, who lives in Merritt Island, Florida, but previously resided in Westminster, attended the rally in Washington D.C. ahead of Congress's certification of the 2020 Presidential Election. The rally became violent and deadly after a massive crowd of supporters of then-President Donald Trump attempted to gain entry into the Capitol in a futile attempt to stop the counting of electoral votes.Galetto, prosecutors stated, "engaged in violence" in the Lower West Tunnel of the Capitol.He was part of a group that was among the first to enter the tunnel, which was being defended by a large police presence. Galetto, who was wearing pro-Trump clothing, was part of a group that engaged officers in the tunnel, some o...

Los Angeles man leads authorities on 78-mile pursuit from Victorville to Pomona

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

A 22-year-old from Los Angeles was arrested after nearly hitting a deputy during a traffic stop and then leading authorities on a 78-mile-long pursuit. According to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputies at the Victorville station, Richard Whitfield was observed by a deputy failing to stop at a stop sign at La Mesa Road and Berrydale Street in Victorville around 8:40 p.m. Monday night. Upon being pulled over, Whitfield allegedly provided false information to the deputy and drove away, nearly striking the deputy with his vehicle. Whitfield led the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol units on a 78-mile pursuit that started in Victorville and ended in Pomona when his 2023 Mercedes became disabled. During the pursuit, Whitfield drove over 100 miles per hour “with a disregard for safety”, authorities said. When his vehicle became disabled, he attempted to flee on foot but was quickly apprehended. Whitfield was booked into th...

Magnitude 4.6 earthquake hits Northern California

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

A 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck near Ferndale, California on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The USGS reported the quake hit at 4:18 p.m. with a depth of about 10 miles. The quake was centered about 4 miles west-southwest of Ferndale and 20 miles south and west of Eureka.There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. California Earthquake Map California experiences dozens of earthquakes each week, most of which are minor. Earlier in the day Tuesday, a swarm of minor quakes shook the ground just north of Calistoga. The strongest was 2.7 magnitude.

Amtrak train disabled after tree falls onto tracks near Port Costa

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

PORT COSTA — An Amtrak train struck a tree that fell onto tracks just southeast of town Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.In an emailed statement, Amtrak spokesperson Olivia Irvin said train No. 534 became disabled after making contract with the tree around 2:50 p.m., but remained upright and able to operate.Irvin said that there were no reports of any injuries among about 55 passengers or crew aboard the train. She added that an adjacent track was open and that service would single-track through the location, not far the the Martinez station.Other Amtrak trains were held out of the service in the area while first responders arrived on scene and assessed the situation, according to social-media posts.Bay Area Rapid Transit said it would offer mutual-aid transit for affected Amtrak riders who contacted station agents between BART’s Richmond and Coliseum stations in both directions until 10 p.m., and County Connection said its buses would honor Amtrak riders’ fares...

Warriors’ Iguodala undergoes wrist surgery, out at least a month

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:37:45 GMT

DALLAS — Andre Iguodala’s playing career that has spanned 19 seasons, including his eight with the Warriors, might be coming to an end.Iguodala, 39, underwent surgery Monday to repair a broken left wrist, the team announced Tuesday night. He’ll be reevaluated in four weeks, effectively ruling him out for the Warriors’ final nine regular season games.The earliest Iguodala could return is the first round of the NBA playoffs, though Golden State, currently sixth in the Western Conference, would have to make it there first.Iguodala, who’s won four NBA titles with Golden State, hurt his wrist after falling on it March 13 during the third quarter of the Warriors’ win over the Phoenix Suns at Chase Center. Iguodala crashed onto the court after he got fouled on a driving layup. He made the free throw but was seen holding his left wrist later.Iguodala, who played 2:11 in the fourth, was seen icing his hand in the locker room after the game. The team later announced he would need surgery afte...