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  • February 24, 2025
  • 47°

National News

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A wildcat strike by guards at New York’s prisons, now in its second week, is fueling fears over deteriorating conditions behind bars. A 61-year-old inmate died over the weekend at one of the prisons where National Guard troops were deployed to replace corrections officers who walked off the job. Jonathon Grant was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Auburn Correctional Facility. It wasn’t clear if the prison’s staffing situation was a factor in his death but a legal aid office expressed concern that the strike was making it difficult for prisoners to get medical care. Mediation between state officials and the union that represents the guards began Monday.

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A federal judge has refused to immediately order the White House to restore The Associated Press’ access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not shown it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter. But he urged the government to reconsider its two-week-old ban. He said that case law "is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.” U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling. The AP filed a lawsuit Friday saying that its First Amendment rights were being violated. President Donald Trump said it was punishment for the agency’s decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

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Jury selection is underway for the trial of the man accused of opening fire on a suburban Chicago Independence Day parade and killing seven people in 2022. Jurors reported to the courthouse in Lake County for questioning on Monday. Jury selection is expected to last several days with opening statements next week. There have been several delays during the case, partly because of the erratic behavior of the defendant, Robert Crimo III. He has been charged with 21 counts of first-degree murder, among other charges. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last about a month with testimony from survivors and police.

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President Donald Trump is backing Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments or risk getting fired. The edict has spawned new litigation and added to turmoil within the government workforce. Trump says his Republican administration is “trying to find out if people are working." Opponents filed an updated lawsuit in federal court in California on Monday, arguing Musk's actions are illegal and describing the threat of mass firings as “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.” The White House has criticized the litigation, calling it frivolous. Some federal agencies have directed employees not to comply by Musk's end-of-day Monday deadline.

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approaches the end of his term in office, he’s talking up one potential heir to succeed him in 2026: his wife Casey DeSantis. At the same time, he’s taking a shot at President Donald Trump's pick for the job, teeing up another potential faceoff between the popular Republican governor and the man he dared to challenge for the presidential nomination. The aspirations of the state’s first lady have long been the subject of Tallahassee parlor talk. That chatter has grown louder in recent weeks as tensions have bubbled between DeSantis and Trump’s allies in the Florida Legislature.

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Supplies of high-demand obesity treatments are improving, but that doesn’t mean they're easier to get. Many employers and health insurers are scaling back coverage of Wegovy or Zepbound and a key government program, Medicare, doesn’t cover the drugs for obesity. Clouding the picture even further, some big employers are adding coverage. But their commitment isn’t guaranteed. Treatment prices that can top hundreds of dollars monthly even after discounts make it hard for many to afford these drugs on their own. That makes the life-changing weight-loss that patients seek largely dependent on the coverage they have and how long it lasts.

Coast Guard crews rescued three boaters in Florida after their boat flipped over and they were stuck at sea for nine hours. A family member reported the missing boaters at 1 a.m. Sunday after not hearing from them since 8 p.m. Saturday. Coast Guard air and boat crews located and rescued the boaters in a capsized boat at about 6 a.m., and emergency crews sent the boaters to a medical center where the three were reported to be in good health.

Roberta Flack has died at 88. The Grammy-winning singer and pianist was known for her intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits. Her publicist says she died Monday, surrounded by her family. Flack became an overnight star in the early 1970s after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his film “Play Misty for Me.” Flack’s other hits included “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and a duet with former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where is the Love?”

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The first thing viewers of “Beyond the Gates” see is a black Mercedes gliding past manicured lawns and stately estates. That car and the elegant woman behind the wheel is driving into TV history on Monday as CBS begins airing the first Black-led daytime soap opera and the first new network soap since “Passions” premiered in 1999. The show is centered around four generations of the Dupree family, from a grandfather who is a civil rights icon to grandchildren who are social influencers. Set in an affluent Maryland gated community, “Beyond the Gates” has drama, joy and heartbreak played by very attractive people with an upper-crust vibe.

A Texas pipeline company has sued Greenpeace accusing the organization of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The environmental advocacy group says the lawsuit, which goes to trial in North Dakota on Monday, threatens free speech rights and its very future. Dallas-based Energy Transfer filed the lawsuit in 2019 over the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017 near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota. Energy Transfer alleges trespass, nuisance, defamation and other offenses by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International and the organization's U.S.-based entity, Greenpeace USA, as well as funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc.

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Violence against healthcare workers is on the rise as seen by an attack at a Pennsylvania hospital. A gunman took hostages before exchanges of gunfire that killed a police officer and wounded five other people at a York County, Pennsylvania, intensive care unit on Saturday. The shooting killed the man, identified as 49-year-old Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz. His motives remain unclear but he had been in contact with the hospital about a medical issue involving someone else. Security consultant Dick Sem says hospital shooters tend not to kill at random but often are angry about something that has happened and target specific victims.

Investigators are trying to determine why a man targeted a Pennsylvania hospital, taking workers inside the intensive care unit hostage and holding one staff member at gunpoint as her hands were bound by zip ties. A police officer was killed and two other officers were wounded in a shootout that left the gunman dead Saturday. A doctor, nurse and custodian who suffered gunshot wounds in the chaos were reported in stable condition. Authorities released no new information Sunday about a possible motive for the attack. They had said that the man knew an individual who was recently in the hospital and that he specifically targeted the ICU.

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