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Appeals court casts doubt on Biden administration rule to curb use of handgun stabilizing braces

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Biden administration rule requiring registration of stabilizing braces on handguns is unlikely to survive a legal challenge, a federal appeals court panel said Tuesday as it extended an order allowing a gun dealer and others challenging the regulation to keep owning, buying and selling the devices without registering them.The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans sends the case back to a federal judge in Texas who will consider whether to block enforcement nationwide. Stabilizing braces attach to the back of a handgun, lengthening it while strapping to the arm. Advocates say the attachments make handguns safer and more accurate. Gun safety groups say they can be used to, in effect, lengthen a concealable handgun, making it more lethal. They point to mass shootings in which such braces were used. While gun control advocates back the registration requirement as a needed curb on use of the braces, two Texas gun owners, a gun rights group ...

Alberta no longer pursuing plan to dump RCMP for provincial police force

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is no longer formally pursuing its plan to dump the RCMP in favour of a new provincial police force.However, Justice Minister Mickey Amery said Tuesday the idea is not dead and his department will continue to consult with Albertans on where they want to go with policing.Earlier Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith delivered her mandate letter to Amery, outlining his goals and priorities as the new justice minister.A day earlier, she sent a mandate letter to the other minister in charge of law-and-order issues, Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis.Neither letter directed them to create a provincial police force, a move that would replace the Mounties in communities that don’t already have their own officers.Alberta’s two major cities — Edmonton and Calgary — and other municipalities already have their own police forces.Instead, Smith directs Ellis to continue his work “with local communities to support them with the community policing options they believe wi...

Dylan Cease wasn't traded, but another White Sox pitcher was at the deadline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

CHICAGO — While the team didn't give up arguably its best young pitcher, they did trade another as the Major League Baseball trade deadline arrived at 5 p.m. central time on Tuesday.General manager Rick Hahn decided to hold onto starter Dylan Cease, a Cy Young Award finalist in 2022, despite interest from contending teams. But he has reportedly traded another reliever away, making it the fourth trade before the deadline in which a pitcher was sent by the White Sox to another team. The White Sox announce the Keynan Middleton deal with the Yankees as they get minor league right-handed pitcher Juan Carela from New York..He’s was the 29th ranked prospect in the New York system and has pitched with Class A Hudson Valley in 2023..@WGNNews pic.twitter.com/vfDVRQxX71— Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) August 1, 2023The team sent reliever Keynan Middleton to the New York Yankees as they look to make a run at the postseason in the competitive American League East division. In exchange, the W...

Skilling: Cloudy, hazy tonight into Wednesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

August opens warm and moderately humid. O'Hare's official high temp is likely to top out at 86 with mid 60-deg dew points. A smoky haze is present confirming we're still on the receiving end of smoke off Canadian and Western U.S. wildfires.  Fires in Canada have already burned an area the size of the state of Pennsylvania---a record there!A lake breeze is blowing---yet the warmer lake waters are having a much more restrained cooling effect. The Chicago lakeshore water temp is 72-deg and shoreline air temps hover in the upper 70s to around 80-deg at mid-afternoon from Kenosha to Waukegan, Lake Forest, the Chicago lakeshore south to Calumet Harbor, East Chicago and Burns Harbor in Indiana all the way to Michigan City.  By comparison, the warmest inland temps have reached 88 at Lombard and 86 at Oswego.August is Chicago's 2nd warmest month—also the city's 2nd wettest, surpassed only by May.  Normal temps amid days with a slowly decreasing period of possible sun...

CPS to prioritize some student riders amid bus driver shortage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

CHICAGO — Despite the start of the new year being just a few weeks away, Chicago Public Schools faces a significant bus driving shortage, impacting students and families. The issue is a trickle effect from the nationwide bus driver shortage that has been going on since the pandemic. In response, Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer for CPS, said the district is prioritizing rides for students for the first day of school."In order to route all students, it takes about 1,300 yellow bus drivers to do so. In this case, we’re at about half of the structure," Mayfield said. CPS center opens program for newly arrived migrant children Prioritized students include:Students with diverse learning needs  Students in temporary living situations  General education students who attend the same school as a diverse learner or sibling  In a letter sent to families Monday, the school district laid out options for the general education population and students in magnet school...

Trump has been indicted for a 3rd time. Here's where all the investigations stand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has now been indicted for the third time, with the former president being charged Tuesday in Washington over his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.The federal investigation is the latest criminal case for Trump as he runs for the White House in 2024.Special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump in the election case, has also charged Trump in federal court with the illegal retention of top secret documents. In New York, Trump faces criminal charges in a hush money case and a civil trial over his business practices. And in Georgia, a county district attorney is expected to announce charging decisions in August over efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Majority of Americans believe Trump has done ‘something illegal’: poll Trump, a Republican, has denied any wrongdoing and says he is being targeted by Democrats trying to keep him from reclaiming the presidency.Here’s a look at some of the oth...

Heatwave stretches to longest on record this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Following Austin's hottest July on record (for the second year in a row), August does not look much better.The hottest July in Austin weather historyAfter enjoying a few isolated downpours Tuesday evening from a passing disturbance, rain disappears from the forecast Wednesday through the coming weekend as record high temperatures return. Hotter than normal weather continues through at least mid-August with the string of consecutive 100-degree days in Austin potentially reaching an all-time record 40 days, crushing the previous record of 27 consecutive days in 2011. Supermoon visible tonight: Click for info An Excessive Heat Warning and Heat Advisory continue areawide, and hot, largely dry weather is leading to a continued very high risk of wildfires.Wednesday wildfire danger outlook BLOG: Forget the heat: Here's when cooler air usually comes PREVIOUS OUTLOOK FOR AUGUST 2023 Austin Interactive Weather Stats (2023) Staying cool is paramount in this heat wave...

How to view tonight's supermoon -- the first of two in August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The first of two supermoons in August will be visible from Central Texas Tuesday night into Wednesday morning under mostly clear skies.The "Sturgeon Moon" is one of four supermoons in 2023, according to NASA. A supermoon is the term used when a full moon coincides with the moon's closest approach to Earth, making the moon appear 7% larger and up to 30% brighter.According to NASA, the name "Sturgeon Moon" comes from the large fish in the Great Lakes that were more easily caught this time of year. Other names for the Aug. 1 supermoon include the Red Moon, the Corn or Green Corn Moon, the Barley Moon, the Herb Moon, the Grain Moon and the Dog Moon.The second supermoon this month will be the Blue Moon, visible on Aug. 30.How to see itTuesday night in Austin, the moon rises at 8:54 p.m. on the eastern horizon. Skies will be mostly clear all night into Wednesday morning, allowing clear viewing of the moon through moonset which occurs in the western horizon at 7:39 a.m.

MN GOP lawmakers ask Gov. Walz to stop DHS plans to delete emails after a year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

A group of Republican lawmakers are asking Gov. Tim Walz to intervene with plans the Minnesota Department of Human Services has to begin automatically deleting emails after a year unless workers decide the messages contain official records.“This move will leave citizens, legislators, and auditors with significantly less information about the work of the Department and its interactions with Minnesotans,” Sens. Mark Koran, R- North Branch, Warren Limmer, R- Maple Grove, and Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids, said in a statement.Koran serves as the cochair of the Legislative Audit Commission, an oversight group, Limmer is on the Data Practices Commission, which oversees public records compliance, and Utke is the top Republican on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.“Rather than value transparency and accountability with a robust retention policy that protects personal privacy, the department is taking the cheap and easy way out with risky, automated deletion,”...

Spire, Hiway credit unions plan merger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:32 GMT

Spire Credit Union and Hiway Credit Union announced a planned merger Tuesday that would create a new east-metro-based entity with nearly $4 billion in assets and serving approximately 250,000 members, making it Minnesota’s fourth-largest credit union.In a joint statement, the companies said their respective leadership approved the merger and so has the NCUA, the National Credit Union Administration, a federally backed deposit insurer.The statement notes that the merger must now be approved by Hiway’s 90,000-plus membership via a vote on Sept. 13. The new entity would then adopt a new name and brand. Hiway is based in St. Paul and Spire in Falcon Heights.