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EU countries agree on compromise for overhaul of bloc’s fiscal rules

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union finance ministers on Wednesday sealed a deal to reform the 27-nation bloc’s fiscal rules after France and Germany finally adhered to a compromise.EU countries had been negotiating for months a reform of the bloc’s fiscal rules limiting debt and deficits for member states, known as the Stability and Growth Pact.The rulebook, which has often proved difficult to enforce and has served as a source of tension, was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic but should be reactivated next year.“Once this agreement is formalized into a general approach, which should happen very soon, negotiations can begin with the European Parliament so that EU Member States have clarity and predictability on their fiscal policies for the years ahead,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, a European Commission executive vice president.The deal was announced a day after France and Germany reached an agreement on the compromise put forward by Spain, which currently holds the rotati...

Hospital that initially treated Irvo Otieno failed to meet care standards, investigation finds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The hospital that initially treated a man who later died while being admitted to a Virginia psychiatric hospital failed to meet care standards while he was in a mental health crisis, a state investigation found.The state Department of Health led the investigation of Parham Doctors’ Hospital, where Irvo Otieno was briefly held, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, died in March after being pressed to the floor of Central State Hospital for about 11 minutes by a group of Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees. Surveillance video that captured how Otieno was treated at the facility where he was set to receive care sparked outrage across the U.S. and calls for mental health and policing reforms. Parham staff were “not in compliance” with health guidelines for hospitals that treat mental health crisis patients, two inspectors said. The report also said a psychiatrist did not examine Otieno during his six hours ...

North Dakota judge to hear request to temporarily block part of abortion law that restricts doctors

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Physicians and the formerly sole abortion provider in North Dakota are asking a state district court judge to temporarily block a part of the state’s revised abortion laws so doctors can perform the procedure to save a patient’s life or health.The request for a preliminary injunction, scheduled for a hearing Wednesday, asks the judge to bar the state from enforcing the law against physicians who use their “good-faith medical judgment” to perform an abortion because of pregnancy complications that could pose “a risk of infection, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, or which otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe.”North Dakota outlaws all abortions, except in cases where women could face death or a “serious health risk.” People who perform abortions could be charged with a felony under the law, but patients would not.Physicians have perceived the law’s language for “serious health risk” to be “so vague” that they “don’t know at what point a ...

How Carey Mulligan became Felicia Montealegre in ‘Maestro’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

Carey Mulligan recently realized that she’s spent much of her professional career holding back.That might be surprising to hear for an actor with two Oscar nominations, a Tony nod and a laundry list of extraordinary films and enviable roles. She just didn’t get precious about it and preferred the old Laurence Olivier adage “why don’t you just try acting?”But that changed in the past several years, in no small part because of Bradley Cooper and “ Maestro,” an all-encompassing project that would push her out of that comfort zone to play Felicia Montealegre, the elegant actor and wife of Leonard Bernstein. As with “ Promising Young Woman,” “Maestro,” now streaming on Netflix, would prove to be a transformative experience for her understanding of herself as an actor and what she’s capable of. And it’s likely to earn her another Oscar nomination and possibly her first win. Mulligan spoke to The Associated Press about the journey to becoming Montealegre, and the people who hel...

Judge threatens to dismiss lawsuit from Arkansas attorney general in prisons dispute

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge on Tuesday threatened to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general against the Corrections Board that he would normally represent, the latest in a widening legal fight between the panel and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders over prisons.Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox on Tuesday criticized Attorney General Tim Griffin for filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Board of Corrections without arranging for a special counsel to represent the panel in the case. The judge said he’ll dismiss the lawsuit in 30 days if Griffin doesn’t reach an agreement with the board on a special counsel. Griffin has accused the panel of violating the law when it hired an outside attorney in its dispute with Sanders over who runs the state prison system.“The case, at this juncture, from a procedural standpoint, is that the attorney general has sued his own clients, in violation of his duties and responsibilities mandat...

McCombs family rejoining Spurs ownership group 30 years after patriarch sells franchise

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The McCombs family has purchased a share of the San Antonio Spurs, returning after 30 years to the organization their patriarch helped establish and once owned.Billy Joe “Red” McCombs owned at least a share of the Spurs for 11 years and was the team’s primary owner for five years. McCombs, who died on Feb. 19 at age 95 after a lengthy illness, was a driving force in bringing the franchise to San Antonio in 1973.“Red, Charline and the entire McCombs family mean so much to the Spurs and San Antonio,” said Peter J. Holt, Spurs Sports & Entertainment managing partner. “To see the McCombs family come full circle and officially welcome them back into our investor group is beyond special. Red was a visionary whose bold work shaped San Antonio and put us on the global map. The McCombs family is continuing his legacy and together with our entire investor group, we are committed to seeing the Spurs and this great city thrive.”The size of the investment was not revealed....

Odds of another rate hike have fallen, BoC governing council agreed as it held rate

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

OTTAWA — The odds of another rate hike have decreased, the Bank of Canada’s governing council agreed during its discussions ahead of its most recent interest rate decision.The Bank of Canada released its summary of deliberations for the Dec. 6 interest rate decision Wednesday, revealing the governing council felt more optimistic about the country’s inflation outlook and found “recent data pointed in the right direction.”“Members agreed that the likelihood that monetary policy was sufficiently restrictive to achieve the inflation target had increased,” the summary says.Recent data showed the economic slowdown is being driven by a pullback in spending, which the central bank is relying on to bring inflation down.  The central bank opted to hold its key interest rate steady earlier this month for a third time in a row, as forecasters widely expect its next move will be to cut interest rates sometime next year. Its key rate currently sits at five per ...

Challengers attack Georgia’s redrawn congressional and legislative districts in court hearing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The people who successfully sued to overturn Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts told a federal judge on Wednesday that new plans Republican state lawmakers claim will cure illegal vote dilution should be rejected.The plaintiffs argued before U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in an hourslong hearing in Atlanta that the new maps don’t increase opportunities for Black voters to elect their chosen candidates. They also said they do not remedy vote dilution in the particular areas of suburban Atlanta that a trial earlier this year had focused on.“The state of Georgia is playing games,” lawyer Abha Khanna said of the new maps. “We’re going to make you chase us all over the state from district to district to achieve an equal opportunity for Black voters. It’s a constant game of whack-a-mole.”But an attorney for the state argued that lawmakers added the Black-majority districts that Jones ordered in October, including one in Congress, two ...

Federal agency wants to fine Wisconsin sawmill $1.4 million for violations found after teen’s death

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

FLORENCE, Wis. (AP) — A federal agency wants to fine a northern Wisconsin sawmill more than $1 million after inspectors said they found “egregious” violations at the site following a June accident that killed a teenage worker.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it proposed fining Florence Hardwoods LLC $1.4 million for numerous violations of federal safety and health regulations, including for “the most serious violations the agency issues.”Florence Hardwoods previously agreed to pay nearly $191,000 and stop hiring children under the age of 16 to settle a federal lawsuit labor regulators filed against the mill, which is in northern Wisconsin along the border with Michigan.That lawsuit was filed after 16-year-old Michael Schuls died July 1, two days after he was injured at the sawmill, where other child employees were also injured in a string of accidents.“It is incomprehensible how the owners of this company could have such disregard for the saf...

New lawsuit against the US by protesters alleges negligence, battery in 2020 clashes in Oregon

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:18:39 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Protesters who were injured by federal law enforcement officers in Portland more than three years ago have filed a new lawsuit alleging negligence and battery.In July 2020, “the federal government unleashed unprecedented and sustained violence and intimidation on the people of Portland,” the lawsuit states. Protesters after that filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, federal law enforcement agencies and individual officers, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Many of the lawsuits relied on a type of claim that the U.S. Supreme Court has since gutted.Tuesday’s lawsuit raises similar issues and involves the same injured protesters but was filed under a different federal legal theory, said David Sugerman, one of the attorneys involved.Thousands of protesters in Portland took to the streets in 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, part of a wave of protests nationally. The protesters in Portland at times clashed with police, and milita...