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US: ‘tangible progress’ in Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that Armenia and Azerbaijan have made “tangible progress” in U.S.-hosted peace talks between the two former Soviet republics that have repeatedly clashed over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.The four-day negotiating session did not produce a peace agreement, but Blinken said he believed a deal could be “within sight, within reach” and praised the two sides for coming together to try to find common ground. He said reaching an agreement would be “not only historic but would be profoundly in the interests of the people of Azerbaijan and Armenia and would have very positive effects even beyond their two countries.”The closed-door discussions were held far from the media spotlight at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute in northern Virginia. The Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers, who led their delegations, did not speak at the closing ceremony.U.S. engagement in the conflict could be seen as...

DOJ: Alabama ignored sewer issues, harmed Black residents

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

HAYNEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said an environmental justice probe found Alabama engaged in a pattern of inaction and neglect regarding the risks of raw sewage for residents in an impoverished Alabama county and announced a settlement agreement with the state. The departments of Justice and Health and Human Services announced the results of the environmental justice probe and a settlement agreement with state health officials to address longstanding wastewater sanitation problems in Lowndes County, a high-poverty county between Selma and Montgomery. The agreement is the result of the department’s first environmental justice investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said it will not be the last, because the “fight for environmental justice is an urgent one” and the impacts of climate crisis have exacerbated the health ri...

Justice Clarence Thomas let GOP donor pay tuition: Report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican megadonor paid two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who did not disclose the payments, a lawyer who has represented Thomas and his wife acknowledged Thursday.The revelation of tuition payments made by Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow is the latest example of Crow’s generosity to Thomas and his family that has raised questions about Thomas’ ethics and disclosure requirements more generally. The payments, along with the earlier examples of Crow’s financial ties to Thomas, were first reported by the nonprofit investigative journalism site ProPublica.ProPublica reported Thursday that Crow paid tuition for Thomas’ great-nephew Mark Martin. Thomas and his wife, Virginia, raised Martin from the age of 6.Over the past month, ProPublica has reported in other stories about luxury vacations paid for by Crow that the conservative justice took as well as Crow’s purchase of prope...

Coroner: 4 dead in killings in south Georgia town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

MOULTRIE, Ga. (AP) — Four people were killed Thursday in a small city in rural south Georgia, including a fast food worker and two relatives of a gunman who took his own life, the local coroner said.The shooter killed his mother and grandmother at two neighboring homes and killed a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Moultrie, Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock told The Associated Press. He said the gunman then killed himself.Brock did not provide the identities of the shooter or victims. He said he did not know whether the gunman and the McDonald’s worker knew each other.The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement only that there had been “multiple fatalities” at different crime scenes in the area.Police swarmed the restaurant on Thursday morning, shutting down traffic on one the main streets in the south Georgia town of 15,000.The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the Moultrie Police Department requested its assistance.“We are working to le...

Carrie Fisher gets her Walk of Fame star, on May the Fourth

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Carrie Fisher received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, a May the Fourth tribute to a beloved “Star Wars” actor that had a touch of stardust.The late star’s daughter, Billie Lourd, wearing her mother’s portrait printed on her metallic dress, accepted the star on behalf of Fisher. She threw glitter, her mother’s favorite, on the newly unveiled star.“My mom used to say you weren’t actually famous until you became a Pez dispenser. Well, people eat candy out of her neck every day. I say you aren’t actually famous until you get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” she said. “My mom is a double-whammy — a Pez dispenser and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame now. Mama, you’ve made it.”Mark Hamill, who played Fisher’s space brother, Luke Skywalker, was also on hand, and recalled meeting the young actor when she was just 19.“She played such a crucial role in my personal and professional life and both would have been far emptier without h...

Executions to return to South Carolina; shield law nears OK

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A bill that would allow South Carolina to buy the drugs needed for lethal injection without revealing the name of the company who sells them will soon be heading for the governor’s desk.The state Senate on Thursday approved minor changes the House made in the shield law bill with almost no debate. The proposal also requires the names of members of the execution team be kept secret.South Carolina has had an unintended 12-year moratorium on the death penalty after its lethal injection drugs passed their expiration date and pharmacies refused to sell the state more.Several South Carolina death row inmates have run out of regular appeals but their executions are on hold because they can’t be carried out.Sixteen other states have carried out about 100 lethal injection executions in the past six years. Many have shield laws. Some do not.Two years ago, South Carolina tried to work around the lack of lethal injections drugs by passing a law creating a firin...

CPD: Man outside work truck shot; fires back and injures suspect in South Shore

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

CHICAGO — A man outside of his truck was shot but returned fire Thursday afternoon in South Shore — injuring the suspect, CPD said.According to police, the 37-year-old man was outside his truck near the 7700 block of South Colfax Avenue just before 12:35 p.m. when a suspect fired shots at him. CPD said the 37-year-old man returned fire, striking the offender in the thigh. Girl charged as adult in high-speed police chase with man on hood of car The man was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition. The suspect self-transported to Trinity Hospital and his condition is unknown. Charges are pending.

Driver killed after high-speed crash in Hobart ID'd

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

HOBART, Ind. — One person is dead after police said they were driving fast when they tried to pass two cars and crashed into a pole Wednesday afternoon in Hobart.The crash happened around 3 p.m. near 37th Avenue and North Lake Park Avenue. Man runs red light, dies after being hit by semi-truck driver in Northwest Indiana The Hobart Police Department said the driver, identified as 64-year-old Tyrone Ramirez, tried to pass two other cars by driving in between them, struck a car, lost control and then crashed into the pole.One other person was injured and treated at the scene, police said.The South Lake County Accident Reconstruction Team is investigating.Additional details haven't been released at this time.

Police: Dating app meet-ups go wrong in Lawndale armed robberies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

CHICAGO -- Police are warning the public after multiple incidents where dating social media users were robbed at gunpoint on Chicago's West side.Individuals reportedly agreed to meet with someone they met on a dating social media app, but were later attacked and robbed by two to three individuals at a meeting location in Lawndale.According to the Chicago Police Department, the victims were robbed at gunpoint, duct taped, and forced to handover their banking and credit card information. Girl charged as adult in high-speed police chase with man on hood of car Nine incidents occurred between March 6 and April 28, during the hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., all within the 1800 and 1900 block of South Springfield Avenue in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood.The Chicago Police Department describe the suspects as two or three African American men in their late twenties, between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11, wearing dark clothing.The investigation is ongoing.Anyone with information are asked to contact...

Four killed in south Georgia town, coroner confirms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:21 GMT

MOULTRIE, Ga. (AP) — Four people were killed Thursday in a small city in rural south Georgia, including a fast food worker and two relatives of a gunman who took his own life, the local coroner said.The shooter killed his mother and grandmother at two neighboring homes and killed a woman at a McDonald's restaurant in downtown Moultrie, Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock told The Associated Press. He said the gunman then killed himself.Brock did not provide the identities of the shooter or victims. He said he did not know whether the gunman and the McDonald's worker knew each other. Police capture suspect in deadly shooting at Atlanta medical facility The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement only that there had been “multiple fatalities” at different crime scenes in the area.Police swarmed the restaurant on Thursday morning, shutting down traffic on one the main streets in the south Georgia town of 15,000.The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the Moultrie Pol...