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US administration argues against trial in case of Trump-era family separations at border with Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Despite President Joe Biden’s loathing of his predecessor’s practice of separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, his administration argued in federal court Tuesday that a lawsuit seeking money for five affected mothers and their children should be dismissed.Justice Department attorney Phil MacWilliams told U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton the claims were improper and the case shouldn’t be tried. He argued that the Yuma, Arizona-based Border Patrol agents involved used their discretion to separate the families, not a policy aimed at deterring migrants arrivals.Attorney Diana Reiter, representing the families, argued the case should go to trial because the separations were part of a bigger policy under then-President Donald Trump aimed at preventing migrants from arriving at the border. She noted that because the women were never prosecuted the separations were unnecessary. Bolton will issue a decision in the coming weeks.The U.S. government...

'Unfit for human habitation:' Some buildings at Merrillville apt. complex condemned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. — Concerns surrounding living conditions at a Northwest Indiana apartment complex continue to arise, less than a week after some residents were displaced following an inspection that revealed structural issues at the property.Signs posted on the property by the Lake County Health Department now read "unfit for human habitation" and indicate that residents are ordered to vacate the premises within ten days.Last Wednesday, the Hickory Ridge Apartments — located in the 1700 block of West 55th Avenue — were deemed unsafe by an inspector with the Merrillville Fire Department. According to Merrillville Fire Chief Edward Yerga, the inspector deemed the first building on the property unsafe due to structural integrity, while concerns were also raised about an adjacent building where water leaking and mold were consistent problems.Town officials said between the two buildings evacuated last week, there are 48 total units — with some being vacant, — but at least 12 families...

Man, woman in hospital after Waukegan double shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Two people are in the hospital after a double shooting in the far north suburbs.According to the Waukegan Police Department, they were called to the 2100 block of North Green Bay Road around 11:26 a.m. on a report of a double shooting.While in route to that location, officers found two shooting victims in the area of Glen Flora Avenue and Jackson Street in a red Jeep. A 22-year-old woman from Wadsworth was shot in her left arm and taken to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. A 23-year-old man from Gurnee suffered a graze wound to his back and was taken Vista Medical Center in Waukegan.Both victims injuries are considered non-life-threatening. No injuries reported after damage at South Shore apartment building According to information gathered by investigating officers, the two victims were parked in a parking lot in the 2100 block of North Green Bay Road next to another vehicle. After a short time, shots came from the other vehicle into the Jeep.Another vehicl...

Migrants moved from YMCA to Daley College after delays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

CHICAGO — The city has transferred three busloads of migrants from the city's North Side to the Southwest Side Tuesday evening.Migrants staying at the closed down YMCA in West Ridge were transferred to Daley College to make way for those staying at police stations. However, not all of the migrants are OK with this move.They have been housed at the YMCA at Touhy and Western since last fall. The YMCA shut down back in 2021, but has been set up to house the migrants who need shelter. Migrants move to Daley College further delayed Migrant children have been able to attend school in the neighborhood, but teachers, parents, and volunteers expressed their outrage over what they say would be entirely unnecessary and harmful decision to uproot the migrants families.The decision to transfer migrants from the YMCA to Daley College was postponed multiple times since Friday.Mayor Brandon Johnson released the following statement regarding the transfer of migrants on Tuesday:"To allow for a smoo...

'Dead' woman knocks on inside of coffin at wake: 'It gave us all a fright'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador astonished her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake, and the incident has prompted a government investigation into the hospital. Relatives left the coffin behind and rushed retired nurse Bella Montoya back to the hospital after the wake Friday in the central city of Babahoyo. Montoya was declared dead on Friday at Hospital Martín Icaza de Babahoyo, according to local outlet El Comercio. She had been initially diagnosed with a cerebrovascular accident and doctors weren't able to resuscitate her after she went into cardiorespiratory arrest, according to the Ministry of Public Health. The doctor on duty then pronounced her dead. These are the safest suburbs in 2023, study says. Did yours make the list? It wasn't until hours later when relatives were holding a wake for Montoya that they realized she wasn't dead.“There were about 20 of us there,” said her son, Gilberto Barbera, according to th...

College World Series: Plucky underdogs, national powers collide in America's heartland for national title

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The field is set and eight teams will go at it for college baseball's ultimate prize beginning June 16 at the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.With No. 8 Stanford's dramatic walk-off victory over Texas and Tennessee's triumph over Southern Miss on Monday night, there are five national seeds remaining and three others primed to make a Cinderella run to the championship. Fly ball lost in twilight gives Stanford berth in Men’s College World Series, ends Texas’ season Top-seeded Wake Forest and No. 2 Florida have played like the best teams in the country so far, but No. 5 Louisiana State, No. 7 Virginia and the No. 8 Cardinal also have aspirations of dogpiling in the middle of Charles Schwab Field Omaha.Oral Roberts, the last No. 4 seed from a regional to make the MCWS since Fresno State in 2008, is riding high after taking out Pac-12 tournament champion Oregon on their home turf — and perhaps there's still some magic left in the Golden Eagles. When Fresn...

Orioles place Ryan Mountcastle on 10-day injured list with vertigo, designate top-20 prospect Noah Denoyer for assignment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

Before Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle was feeling “much, much better” despite being out of the lineup for the fifth time in six games with an undisclosed illness.Hours later, Baltimore placed Mountcastle on the 10-day injured list with vertigo, the sensation that the environment around oneself is moving or spinning. About 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Hyde said Mountcastle was set to go through a full pregame routine and be available off the bench, with hopes he could be in Wednesday’s lineup. The roster move, which is retroactive to Saturday, came just before the game’s 7:05 p.m. first pitch.To fill Mountcastle’s place on the active roster, the Orioles selected the contract of Mark Kolozsvary, adding a third catcher to the roster. Baltimore designated right-handed pitcher Noah Denoyer — the organization’s No. 20 prospect according to Baseball America — to creat...

Air quality alert issued for northern, southeastern Minnesota

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued a new air quality alert for the state.The agency said the two-part alert covers northern and southeastern Minnesota.In northern Minnesota, the alert is due to wildfire smoke drifting south from Canada. The alert is in effect from 6 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Thursday. The affected area includes Roseau, International Falls, Ely, Hibbing, Duluth, Two Harbors, Brainerd, Alexandria, Moorhead, Ortonville, and the tribal nations of Grand Portage, Fond du Lac, Leech Lake, Red Lake and Mille Lacs.In southeastern Minnesota, the alert is due to ozone in the lower atmosphere. The alert is in effective from noon Wednesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The affected area includes the Twin Cities, Rochester and the tribal nation of Prairie Island.Air quality is expected to reach orange in northern and southeast Minnesota, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups.Related ArticlesHealth | It’s been a spring without severe weather across Minneso...

It’s been a spring without severe weather across Minnesota

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

Hear that?No thunder. No wailing tornado sirens. No beeping alerts streaming across the bottom of prime-time TV screens.That relative silence you hear is a sign of an exceedingly quiet spring, severe weather-wise, across Minnesota.While there’ve been some torrential rains and scattered reports of high winds or hail, overall it’s the quietest it has been in the region for more than a decade — and the eighth-quietest start to the severe weather season in National Weather Service records dating back to 1986.“Basically, we’ve been devoid of upper-level flow,” said Caleb Grunzke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities. “We haven’t had any troughs, large-scale troughs, that sweep through the area, that can bring us — like the systems that we saw last May, where they brought very significant severe weather events. … We just haven’t had that at all this year.”And 2022, you might recall, was a big year for big weather. There had been 438 severe thunderstor...

Man sentenced for 2019 murder of Edwardsville couple

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:49 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - A Collinsville, Illinois, man appeared in Madison County Circuit Court on Tuesday to admit to the 2019 murder of an Edwardsville couple, and was sentenced immediately afterward.Michael Ladd, 79, and Dr. Lois Ladd, 68, were found stabbed to death inside their home in the 800 block of North Kansas Street shortly after 10:30 a.m. on March 18, 2019. The Madison County Medical Examiner determined they'd been killed the day prior.Investigators with the Illinois State Police and Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis recovered evidence from the scene, including pieces of a latex glove, a boot print outside the bathroom window where the killer had entered the home, and bloody boot prints in the Ladds' bedroom.Zachary Capers was arrested the morning of the murders on an outstanding warrant for an unrelated incident. Police tie 12-year-old girl to overnight crime spree Investigators tied Capers to the murders shortly thereafter.The Madison County State's Attorney's Offic...