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Encore casino workers take vote on strike authorization amid contract negotiations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

Unionized service workers at Encore Boston Harbor held a strike authorization vote Wednesday, raising the potential that more than 1,400 employees could soon picket as they seek out a new contract with casino management.The workers, covered by the UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25, range from cocktail servers to bar porters and drivers to room attendants. Their first contract with the casino expired in April, and the head of UNITE HERE Local 26 said the union has been negotiating a second contract since February.The unions’ demands are “very modest,” said UNITE HERE Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo.“We’re looking to have the same wages, benefits and work rules that exist in other hospitality employers around the Greater Boston area, whether that’s the Ritz Carlton or Courtyard Marriott at North Station,” he told the Herald. “We’re not looking for anything more than what other folks who do this kind of work earn in this area and in this region.”A spo...

Police used DNA website to identify University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger, court filings confirm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

BOISE, Idaho — For the first time, prosecutors in the University of Idaho student homicides case have acknowledged that investigators employed an advanced DNA technique more commonly used in cold cases to land on Bryan Kohberger as the suspected killer.The FBI submitted DNA found at the Moscow crime scene to one or more public genealogy databases to establish familial ties to the alleged perpetrator, according to newly released court records. The since-deleted DNA profile that federal agents created, on online services like Ancestry.com or 23andMe, “resulted in the lead that pointed law enforcement to” Kohberger, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson wrote.The process, known as investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), was previously reported by several news outlets, including Slate and The New York Times, but never before confirmed by officials involved in the case. The probable cause affidavit filed to justify Kohberger’s December arrest, for example, contains no reference to use of ...

House censures Rep. Adam Schiff over Trump-Russia investigations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Wednesday to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff for comments he made several years ago about investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, rebuking the Democrat and frequent critic of the former president along party lines. Schiff, who will stand in front of the House while the resolution is read, becomes the 25th House lawmaker to be censured. He was defiant ahead of the vote, saying he will wear the formal disapproval as a “badge of honor” and charged his GOP colleagues of doing the former president’s bidding. “I will not yield,” Schiff, who is running for the Senate in his home state, said during debate over the measure. “Not one inch.” More than 20 Republicans voted with Democrats last week to block the censure resolution, but they changed their votes this week after the measure’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, removed a provision that could have fined Schiff $16 million if the House Ethics C...

Live updates | Sound could help, or hinder, search for submersible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

Follow along for live updates on the submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. ____SOUND MAY HELP, OR HINDER, SEARCH FOR MISSING SUBMERSIBLETeams racing to find the missing Titan submersible have detected underwater noises in the search area. But it won’t be easy to find the source of that sound in the “noisy” ocean.There are many other potential sources of sound underwater, including from fish, other animals and of course human-made instruments, according to Matt Dzieciuch, an ocean acoustics expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.While the Coast Guard said search teams heard banging noises at 30-minute intervals, it’s still unclear whether the banging noises were a true signal of life.Usually, an underwater vehicle will have a device called a pinger that can correspond with the surface and make it easier to locate, Dzieciuch said. But it’s unclear whether the Titan submersible was using one.The search team is facing additional ...

Wisconsin Assembly passes sweeping bill to overhaul liquor law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The laws governing Wisconsin’s multibillion-dollar liquor industry would be streamlined and updated under a sweeping measure passed by the state Assembly on Wednesday that’s supported by groups from the smallest craft brewers to the largest national brewers, bar owners and alcohol distributors.The massive overhaul to the laws affecting the production, distribution and sale of alcohol passed with broad bipartisan support. The measure now heads to the Senate for final approval. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who was involved with discussions of the measure, is expected to sign it into law.The proposal would create a new division within the state Department of Revenue, which would be in charge of overseeing and enforcing the state’s alcohol laws. The absence of such a unit now has led to inconsistent enforcement of the law — and questions over how they affect new businesses that weren’t envisioned when the laws were enacted, supporters of the b...

After GOP walkout, Oregon passes amended bills on abortion, trans care and guns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon lawmakers on Wednesday officially passed amended versions of the two bills — relating to guns, and abortion and gender-affirming care, respectively — that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout.Their final passage — coming the week after Republicans stopped their boycott and just days before the end of the legislative session on June 25 — highlighted the partisan hurdles that were overcome to bring the GOP walkout to an end.But while the negotiated bipartisan agreements allowed the bills to progress and ultimately receive their final floor vote in the state House on Wednesday, they did not pass with support from both sides of the aisle. Multiple GOP lawmakers spoke on the House floor to voice their opposition to the bills before the votes. Republican state Rep. Emily McIntire said that while she was grateful for the changes to the bill on abortion and gender-affirming care, she still could not support it.“It is not with joy, but with a lot o...

Plant-based courses of millet, stuffed mushrooms on White House state dinner menu for India

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Plant-based courses of millet and stuffed mushrooms are on the menu for some 400 guests invited to Thursday’s fancy White House state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi is a vegetarian and first lady Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis, whose specializes in plant-based cooking, to help in the kitchen. Biden previewed the menu and decor for the news media on Wednesday after she returned from an outing with the prime minister.Guests will dine on a salad of marinated millet, corn and compressed watermelon, stuffed Portobello mushrooms and risotto, and a strawberry shortcake infused with rose and cardamom. A fish course will be available for guests who prefer that option. Earlier Wednesday, the first lady and the Indian leader visited the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, for an event highlighting workforce training programs. He flew in from New York, where earlier in the day he performed backbends and ...

Who will have the 2023 song of the summer? We offer some predictions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The sun is shining, the beach is calling, and school is out: It’s time to prepare the song of the summer.Often, there’s a clear champion: In 2017, Lusi Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber’s “Despacito” was unavoidable. In 2019, Lil Nas X’s ubiquitous “Old Town Road” foretold future superstardom. Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” did the same in 2021. But that’s not always the case.Was Harry Styles’ “As It Was” the go-to jam of the 2022 season? Who claimed the title during the summer-that-barely-was in 2020? When all the world’s music is available on streaming platforms, can genre-loyal listeners agree on a single song of the summer? What if they didn’t have to? Well, here are AP’s 2023 song(s) of the summer predictions — and holders of each crown from past years:Club song of the summer: “Put It On Da Floor Again” by Latto ft. Cardi BRapper Latto’s combative, no-nonsense flow atop a hot, minimalist beat on “Put It On Da Floor” makes it a club-ready contender fo...

Ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker convicted of insider trading charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs investment banker was convicted of insider trading charges Wednesday after a weeklong trial.Brijesh Goel, 38, of Manhattan, was convicted in Manhattan federal court of securities fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice by a jury that deliberated less than a day before concluding he had shared secrets about likely merger-and-acquisition transactions that Goldman Sachs was considering financing.Sentencing was set for Oct. 19.Prosecutors said Goel worked in Manhattan at the investment bank when he shared information about potential merger and acquisition deals with a friend who worked at another investment bank in Manhattan.Goel and the friend agreed to split profits from their illegal trading, which amounted to about $280,000, prosecutors said.Prosecutors said Goel obstructed justice by deleting electronic communications regarding the insider trading scheme as a grand jury and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigated.Adam For...

Iowa governor settles open records lawsuit filed by media groups

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:52 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by journalists and open government advocates who sought to require her office to respond to public record requests, and a state panel agreed Wednesday to pay more than $100,000 in attorney fees.Reynolds settled the lawsuit about two months after the Iowa Supreme Court refused to dismiss the case filed by two media organizations and a nonprofit advocacy group. The court unanimously rejected the governor’s argument that her office wasn’t required to respond in a timely manner to record requests and that she could bypass the state’s open records law by simply ignoring the requests.The organizations filed the lawsuit in 2021, claiming the governor had violated Iowa’s open records law by ignoring government record requests. The reporters had emailed the governor’s office with eight different open-record requests between April 2020 and April 2021 and renewed each request at least once. In...