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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to appear in Houston court hearing for his securities fraud trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, awaiting the start of a separate impeachment trial, is set to appear in a Houston courtroom Thursday to discuss his nearly decade-long delayed trial on securities fraud charges.It’s unclear if any decision will be made during the court hearing on when Paxton might finally go to trial on felony charges of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He was indicted in 2015.The case is back in a Houston courtroom after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a decision last month by a judge who originally oversaw the case to move the proceedings out of Paxton’s hometown near Dallas. Paxton has spent years fighting to keep the trial in Collin County, where he maintains wide support among GOP activists and his wife, Angela Paxton, is a state senator.Paxton was scheduled to appear in court during the hearing, said Philip Hilder, one of Paxton’s lawyers. Paxton has rarely appeared in court for hearings in the securities fraud case....

Reenactment of Florida school massacre will bring gunfire back to Parkland campus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire will again ring out at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday as a reenactment of the 2018 massacre that left 17 dead, 17 wounded and hundreds emotionally traumatized is conducted as part of lawsuits filed by the victims’ families and the injured. Ballistics experts for the families will conduct the test, firing up to 139 shots inside a three-story classroom building as part of the lawsuit against the families’ primary targets: the school’s then-assigned deputy, Scot Peterson, and his employer, the Broward Sheriff’s Office. They will fire live ammunition from the sames spots gunman Nikolas Cruz did on Feb. 14, 2018, with an identical AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. The bullets will be caught by a safety device. Outside, technicians will record the shots, seeking to show what Peterson heard during the six-minute attack. The school is closed for summer break and students and teachers are not on campus. Pet...

2 members of expelled ‘Tennessee Three’ vie to win back their legislative seats

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, who became Democratic heroes as members of the so-called “Tennessee Three,” are hoping to once again reclaim their legislative seats Thursday after they were expelled for involvement in a gun control protest on the House floor. The young Black lawmakers were both reinstated by local officials, but only on an interim basis. To fully take back their positions, they must advance through a special election. Both easily cleared their primary election in June, and now face general election opponents for districts that heavily favor Democrats.Jones, who lives in Nashville, is up against Republican candidate Laura Nelson. Meanwhile, Pearson, from Memphis, faces independent candidate Jeff Johnston. “Let’s send a clear message to everyone who thought they could silence the voice of District 86,” Pearson tweeted earlier this month. “You can’t expel a movement!” Jones and Pearson were elected to the GOP-dominat...

Singapore executes third prisoner in 2 weeks for drug trafficking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singapore hanged a third prisoner in two weeks on Thursday for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to halt capital punishment for drug-related crimes. The Central Narcotics Bureau said Mohamed Shalleh Abdul Latiff, a 39-year-old Singaporean, was executed at Singapore’s Changi Prison after being accorded due process under the law. He was sentenced to death for trafficking 54 grams (1.9 ounces) of heroin, an amount “sufficient to feed the addiction of about 640 abusers for a week,” it said in a statement.Transformative Justice Collective, an anti-death penalty advocate in Singapore, said Shalleh, an ethnic Malay, worked as a delivery driver before his arrest in 2016. He was sentenced in 2019 but his appeal was dismissed last year. The group said Shalleh had maintained in his trial that he believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes for a friend to whom he owed money, and he didn’t verify the contents of the bag as he trusted his f...

The US wants Kenya to lead a force in Haiti with 1,000 police. Watchdogs say they’ll export abuse

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — As the U.S. government was considering Kenya to lead a multinational force in Haiti, it was also openly warning Kenyan police officers against violent abuses. Now 1,000 of those officers might head to Haiti to take on gang warfare.It’s a challenging turn for a police force long accused by rights watchdogs of killings and torture, including gunning down civilians during Kenya’s COVID-19 curfew. One local group confirmed that officers fatally shot more than 30 people in July, all of them in Kenya’s poorest neighborhoods, during opposition-called protests over the rising cost of living.“We are saddened by the loss of life and concerned by high levels of violence, including the use of live rounds” during those protests, the U.S. said in a joint statement with 11 other nations in mid-July.Now the U.S., as this month’s president of the United Nations Security Council, is preparing to put forward a resolution to authorize a mission in Haiti led by Kenyan police, who h...

EU and the Philippines to start scoping exercise for a free trade agreement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

The EU and the Philippines have announced their intention to explore the relaunch of negotiations for an ambitious, modern, and balanced free trade agreement (FTA) – with sustainability at its core. The EU and the Philippines will shortly kick off a bilateral ‘scoping process' to assess to which extent they share a mutual understanding on the future FTA. If this process concludes successfully, and after consultations with the member states, the EU and the Philippines would be in a position to resume FTA negotiations.Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The Philippines is a key partner for us in the Indo-Pacific region, and with the launch of this scoping process we are paving the way to taking our partnership to the next level. Together, we will realise the full potential of our relationship, creating new opportunities for our companies and consumers while also supporting the green transition and fostering a just economy.”Following the resumption of FTA talks with Thaila...

Sunnyvale attempted murder suspect arrested while trying to board flight to Turkey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

SUNNYVALE – A second suspect wanted in connection with an attempted murder in Sunnyvale was arrested Wednesday as he tried to hop a plane out of the country, authorities said.Gunfire was reported around 2:45 a.m. Sunday in the 300 block of East Washington Avenue, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said in a news release.Officers arrived to find two adult male victims, one of whom had multiple gunshot wounds, in a nearby vehicle. The man was treated at the scene and taken to a hospital for further care. An update on his condition was not immediately available.Authorities said one suspect, identified as Gregory Law, was arrested following a foot pursuit. Officers recovered a semiautomatic handgun Law reportedly tossed during the chase.Detectives identified the second suspect as Filmon Kifle. He was arrested Wednesday at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, authorities said.Law and Kifle were booked into Santa Clara County j...

Oakland A’s blasted by L.A. as Dodger Stadium fans chant ‘sell the team’ again

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

Any good vibes the Oakland A’s might have carried with them after they won two of three games from the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field last weekend didn’t make it over the San Gabriel Mountains.The A’s were blasted by the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second straight night Wednesday, as starting pitcher Hogan Harris allowed eight earned runs, including three homers, in what became a 10-1 loss at Chavez Ravine.Harris allowed homers to Miguel Rojas, Mookie Betts, and Amed Rosario as the Dodgers took an 8-1 lead after three innings. Betts’ homer was his 29th of the season and Freddie Freeman went 3 for 4.Betts launched a 436-foot shot into the left-field pavilion off Harris (2-6) for his 70th RBI in the second, when the Dodgers scored four runs to lead 7-0. Betts doubled leading off the first and struck out before getting the rest of the night off in the top of the fourth.Freeman hit his major league-leading 37th and 38th doubles and singled. He scored twice and d...

Taylor Swift donates to South Bay food bank

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KRON) – Taylor Swift may have left the Bay Area, but she is still making a huge difference. Second Harvest of Silicon Valley announced last Friday that the artist donated enough money to help hundreds of thousands of people in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.Second Harvest says they won’t disclose the amount that Taylor Swift donated. Since the donation, there’s definitely been a “Swiftie effect” of incoming donations.“We got the call from her team. Our team was super excited to get this call from Taylor that she was going to support our work,” said Shobana Gubbi, the food bank’s chief philanthropy officer.  Antioch missionary group stuck in Niger after coup Gubbi is still excited about what happened on Friday -- the first of Taylor Swift’s two-show run at Levi’s. And since then, she says the food bank has seen a 43 percent increase in one-time donations.“Definitely we think some of it is because of the visibility,” she said. “This is not like a very busy d...

Antioch missionary group stuck in Niger after coup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:32 GMT

ANTIOCH, CALIF. (KRON) – A local Christian missionary group is stuck in Niger after a coup took over the government. Politicians are working to get them back home safely while family members wait anxiously for an update.The group from Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch took off on July 20 for Niger's capital city, Niamey. They were supposed to be back by now, but all fifteen people are still stuck abroad after a coup took over the government, grounding flights.School principal Logan Heyer says his wife and daughter are both part of the missionary group in Niger. 5 men charged with orchestrating $1.1M heist of San Ramon jewelry store This is the second team they've sent to the country to help build schools and churches. Principal Heyer says he has been in contact with Senator Dianne Feinstein's office to help bring them home."They have made sure that the embassy knows our team is there and has all their information, and if something changes where they need to get out I've been...