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Ex-Venezuelan spy chief is extradited from Spain to US on drug trafficking charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A former Venezuelan spymaster close to the country’s late leader Hugo Chávez has been extradited to New York from Spain on Wednesday to face decade-old drug trafficking charges.Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal will enter a not guilty plea at his initial appearance Thursday in Manhattan federal court, his lawyer, Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, told The Associated Press.Nicknamed “El Pollo” (The Chicken), Carvajal advised Chávez for more than a decade. He later broke with Chávez’s handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, and threw his support behind his U.S. backed opponents. He did so in dramatic fashion: releasing a videotaped speech from an undisclosed location calling on his former cohorts in the military to rebel against their commander in chief a month into mass protests seeking to replace Maduro with lawmaker Juan Guaido, who the U.S. recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader because of his role as head of the democratically elected National Assembly.In ...

How the death penalty phase of the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman’s trial might play out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The federal trial of a 50-year-old truck driver convicted of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history is in its third and final phase, in which jurors must decide whether to sentence him to death.The jury convicted Robert Bowers in June after three weeks of testimony about how he stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018 and shot anyone he saw. He killed members of three congregations that were sharing the building, and wounded two worshippers and five police officers.During the second phase of the trial, it took jurors only two hours to decide that Bowers was legally eligible for the death penalty. That led to the final phase, which is more emotionally taxing for jurors as they weigh whether sentence the man across the courtroom to die.Here is a look at the final phase:IS THERE ANY WAY TO PREDICT THE OUTCOME?Given the overwhelming evidence, everyone including Bowers’ lawyers knew a conviction was a...

IRS whistleblowers airing claims to Congress about ‘slow-walking’ of the Hunter Biden case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Wednesday held a public hearing raising unsubstantiated allegations against President Joe Biden over his family’s finances as they summoned IRS whistleblowers for their first open testimony about claims the Justice Department improperly interfered with a tax investigation into Biden’s son Hunter.“We will continue to follow the money trail,” said Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.The top Democrat on the committee, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, called the hearing “a theater of the absurd.”The Justice Department has denied the whistleblowers’ allegations.Lawmakers were hearing from the two IRS agents assigned to Hunter Biden case, which focused on tax and gun charges. The second agent, whose name was withheld in closed-door interview transcripts released earlier by Republicans and who was referred to by the committee as “whistleblower X,” was disclosed at the hearing as Joe Ziegler. The other IRS em...

Australia 299-8 at stumps in 4th Ashes test against England as Broad claims 600th wicket

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Stuart Broad claimed his 600th test wicket for England, under-fire wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow took three catches and Australia batters kept the runs ticking along to reach 299-8 at stumps on the first day of the fourth Ashes test on Wednesday in what already looks like another close contest.Broad joined test cricket’s exclusive club as he and Chris Woakes kept England’s hopes of a rousing Ashes comeback alive at Old Trafford.Three years after taking his 500th wicket at the same ground, Broad completed another century to join a hall of fame that includes only four other names: Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Broad’s teammate James Anderson and Anil Kumble. Among fast bowlers, Anderson and Broad stand alone in the pantheon.The 37-year-old Broad dismissed the series’ top run-scorer Usman Khawaja (3) early on and returned after tea to bounce out Travis Head (48) as his landmark victim, overtaking Ian Botham’s record for an England bowler of 148 Austr...

Alabama woman missing for 2 days after reporting toddler on freeway was abducted, mom says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — The mother of a 25-year-old Alabama woman says her daughter was abducted and fought for her life when she disappeared for two days after calling 911 to report a toddler wandering on a highway. Police say they’re still trying to determine what happened to Carlee Russell before she returned home.Authorities in Hoover, Alabama, plan to hold a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the case.Russell’s disappearance last Thursday sparked a frantic search by family and friends. Her return home Saturday prompted intense speculation about where she had been and what had happened to her.Russell was not in a “good state” when she got back and needed medical care, Talitha Russell told NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday. She said her daughter gave detectives a statement so they could “continue to pursue her abductor.”“There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life,” Talitha Russell said. P...

Jill Biden welcomes proposal for Medicare to pay for navigation services for cancer patients

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden on Wednesday welcomed a new proposal to have Medicare pay for navigation services for cancer patients, saying it will make “an enormous difference in people’s lives.” She joined other Biden administration officials on a conference call to discuss a proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pay for “principal illness navigation services,” which help patients make decisions about treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses and overcome barriers to quality care. Biden spoke about her sister Jan, who underwent six weeks of stem cell transplant therapy several years ago to treat lymphoma. Biden said an advocate helped her sister “every step of the way.”She said making these services more widely available is something that she and her husband, Joe Biden, worked on before he was elected president and then made a priority after he took office. The first lady frequently visits cancer centers around the United States...

Judge rules Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case can continue in New York state court, nixing move to federal court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Judge rules Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case can continue in New York state court, nixing move to federal court.Source

Pittsburgh synagogue attack survivors testify about overcoming wounds both physical and emotional

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Officer Tim Matson described in federal court Wednesday how he has tended a weed growing on his porch in the years since his body was shattered by bullet wounds in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, saying the hardy plant helped to restore his will to live.Matson was shot in his head and body on Oct. 27, 2018, when he and other police officers charged into Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue to halt the massacre that left 11 worshippers dead. The SWAT police officer was hospitalized for months, endured off-the-charts pain and underwent 25 surgeries. He had to relearn how to walk on his wounded leg. And the wounds were more than physical. “I was in a pretty dark place,” he testified.Robert Bowers was convicted in June for the killings that Sabbath morning, as well as for injuring Matson, other officers and worshippers — 63 counts in total. Jurors last week found him eligible for the death penalty and must next consider whether to put him to deat...

Denver's mayor plans to house 1,000 homeless. Will it work?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver's new mayor has declared a citywide state of emergency for homelessness. It's his first significant policy move since he took office on Monday.As part of the effort, Mayor Mike Johnston pledged to house 1,000 people by the end of the year. But it's going to take buy-in from the people he's aiming to help. How homelessness in Denver compares to other cities "If he really, really wants to do this, he needs to have us at the table, and I mean a variety of everyone," said Ana Gloom, one of the dozens of people who could lose housing when the Rodeway Inn emergency shelter closes next month. "We need BIPOC representation," Gloom said, using the shorthand for Black, Indigenous and people of color. "We need queer representation, we need elderly, we need disabled, because every community has their own unique struggles within being houseless."Johnston acknowledges that getting everyone housed will take a team effort."Our goal will be to bring together the nonprofit co...

Fines for I-70 Mountain Express Lane violations to begin July 21

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:18 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A month after tolling was implemented on the Interstate 70 Mountain Express Lanes, the Colorado Department of Transportation will begin issuing tickets for violators.According to CDOT, more than 5,000 warnings were emailed during the grace period, which began on June 21. Surveillance tech to monitor I-70 express lanes for violators Violations include using the express lanes when they're closed, driving an oversized vehicle and crossing the solid yellow line."The number of warnings issued during the grace period is extremely concerning," Tim Hoover, a CDOT spokesman, said in an emailed release. "We don’t want to see so many people get fines — we just want roadway users to follow the Express Lane rules so everybody can get to their destinations safely."CDOT said the warnings will cease, and on July 21 violators will begin getting fines mailed to them.The fines will start at $75 per violation and increase to $150 if not paid within 20 days of being issued.Federal reg...