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ProPublica: GOP megadonor paid tuition for Clarence Thomas relative

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

By Tierney Sneed | CNNA Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor paid boarding school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew, and the justice did not report the financial assistance for the child he helped raised on his annual disclosures, according to a new ProPublica report — the latest revelation raising ethical questions around the high court.The ProPublica report on Thursday revealed that the billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for Mark Martin, who lived with Thomas’ family as a child and for whom the justice became a legal guardian. ProPublica cited a 2009 bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the Georgia boarding school Martin attended.The former administrator at the school, Hidden Lake Academy, told ProPublica that Crow paid for Martin’s tuition for the year or so Martin was at the boarding school. The administrator said, according to ProPublica, that he had been told by Crow that Crow also paid for Martin&...

BMW warns: Don’t drive older models with Takata airbag inflators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

BMW is warning the owners of about 90,000 older vehicles in the U.S. not to drive them due to an increasing threat that the airbags might explode in a crash.The warning covers vehicles from the 2000 through 2006 model years that previously had been recalled to replace faulty and dangerous airbag inflators made by Takata.The company used volatile ammonium nitrate to inflate the airbags in a crash. But the chemical can deteriorate over time when exposed to heat and humidity and blow apart a metal canister, hurling shrapnel that can injure or kill drivers and passengers.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drivers should park their vehicles and contact BMW for more information. Repairs are available at no cost to owners, as well as mobile repair and free towing.“These vehicles are 17 to 22 years old, and the risk to vehicle occupants is dire,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “These are some of the oldest Takata airbags under recall and have an extremely high...

Dems pressure GOP on spending cuts, debt limit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

By Kevin Freking | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Senate Democrats pressured Republicans on the debt ceiling impasse Thursday, focused in a hearing on what they say will be painful reductions in government services if a bill recently passed by the House becomes law.No one expects that the House bill, which would importantly increase the nation’s borrowing authority as well as cutting spending, will reach President Joe Biden’s desk. The Democratic Senate won’t let it.Many Republicans admitted so when passing the measure. But they said action by the House was necessary to get Biden to the negotiating table with Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. A meeting at the White House with congressional leaders of both parties is set for next week.Despite the legislation’s certain demise, Democrats are eager to tie Republicans, particularly in swing districts and states, to various provisions in the bill. Those include one that would cap next year’s spending at 2022 l...

How much do striking Oakland teachers make? Here’s how their pay compares to other Bay Area districts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

With Oakland Unified School District teachers on strike for a second time in two years, how does their pay compare around the region, state and country?The Oakland Education Association, the union representing the district’s 3,000 K-12 teachers, counselors, social workers, speech pathologists, nurses, librarians and substitutes, argues its teachers are the lowest paid in the Bay Area.The average annual teacher salary in Oakland Unified for the 2021-2022 school year was $70,572, according to the California Department of Education. Across the Bay at San Francisco Unified, the average was $84,881, while at San Jose Unified, it was $86,433. At Piedmont City Unified, located in the town surrounded by Oakland, the average was $89,480.Among other Bay Area districts, the average annual salary was $77,994 in West Contra Costa Unified, $82,473 in Ravenswood Elementary and $122,868 at Palo Alto Unified.The Department of Education lists Oakland Unified as California’s 11th largest s...

Shooting victim found in car outside Antioch 7-Eleven identified

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

ANTIOCH — Authorities on Thursday identified a man shot to death and found inside a vehicle in a 7-Eleven parking lot.Antioch police officers found 31-year-old Clayton Sills, of Pittsburg, after responding to the store in the 2700 block of Hillcrest Avenue about 7:40 p.m., Antioch police Lt. John Fortner said in a statement. Sills had been shot once.Officers originally responded to the 7-Eleven on reports that the car had crashed in the parking lot. Fortner said police believe he was shot inside his car.Two people ran from the scene, according to witnesses who spoke to police, Fortner said.The homicide is the second one Antioch police have investigated in 2023.Police have not announced any arrests.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Authorities suspect 18-year-old Concord man in Bay Point fatal shooting Crime and Public Safety | Prosecutors: Man sat in car with loaded gun at East Bay elementary school parking lot Crime and Public Safety | ...

School bus full of children crashes into car in San Jose, no reported injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

(KRON) -- A San Jose school bus loaded full of children crashed into a stopped car on the East Capitol Expressway on Thursday morning, pushing the car into several other stopped cars, according to the CHP. The bus was headed west on the expressway at around 7:45 a.m. when it hit the read end of a Toyota Corolla. Oakland teachers on strike starting Thursday after no deal is reached with school district The Corolla and the other cars involved were stopped at a red light, the CHP said. There were 27 students onboard the bus at the time of the crash, along with a bus driver. No one was reported injured as a result of the crash. At this time, police are unsure as to why the bus did not stop for the cars at the red light. Drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been a factor. Although there were no injuries, property damage was suffered by some of the involved vehicles.The CHP is leading the investigation into the incident.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Texas GOP Opens Up a New Front in Genocidal Anti-Trans Campaign

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

The transgender community and LGBTQ+ activists rallied at the Texas Capitol in Austin in response to a string of anti-transgender bills on March 27, 2023.Photo: Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via APThe Texas Senate passed a first-of-its-kind bill last week that would make it virtually impossible for a trans person of any age to access gender-affirming care in the state. All those invested in trans liberation have known from the jump that this has been the Republicans’ end game; the relentless attempts to ban trans children’s medical care were simply an opening salvo to a wider attack on all trans existence. Texas Senate Bill 1029 makes this genocidal agenda abundantly clear, while introducing an insidious new strategy for expanding trans health care bans to adults: financial liability.Many trans adults already lack access to transition-related health care in the seven states, including Texas, where Medicaid coverage of such care is prohibited. Missouri’s recent “emergency rule,” while ...

Recall effort against Arizona election denier fails

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

Organizers of an effort to remove a rural Arizona county supervisor for skepticism over the results of last year’s election announced that they have fallen short of the legal requirement to proceed with a recall effort that would have given voters the option of removing him from office.The campaign to recall Tom Crosby in rural Cochise County said Wednesday night that it fell short of collecting the 4,865 signatures required to place the recall on the ballot for voters later this year. Crosby is one of two Republican supervisors on the three-member board who refused to certify the 2022 election in the county. They pushed for hand counting ballots instead of relying on more accurate voting machines and gave oversight of elections to the county’s elected Republican recorder instead of nonpartisan staff. The recorder then hired a new election director who shared memes echoing former President Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.“This will ...

Jury finds British singer Ed Sheeran’s hit song “Thinking Out Loud” didn’t copy Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On”

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jury finds British singer Ed Sheeran’s hit song “Thinking Out Loud” didn’t copy Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On.”Source

Handbells ring true in keeping seniors sharp, engaged and learning something new

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:54:20 GMT

Members of Bronze Unlimited perform a song on handbells. Music To Free is a nonprofit organization that brings handbell programs to low- and fixed-income senior living centers, veteran rehabilitation programs, and addiction treatment programs. (Courtesy Music to Free)Learning to play an instrument can be fun, entertaining, and rewarding for anyone, but it can also serve a very important purpose as you get older.“Playing handbells is a way to help our senior population stay engaged, making music, which is a huge brain stimulation,” said Alan Payne, founder of Music To Free, a nonprofit organization which brings handbell programs to low- and fixed-income senior living centers, veteran rehabilitation programs, and addiction treatment programs. “It helps to release dopamine and elevate mood, and improve cognitive abilities.”During COVID, Payne began thinking of teaching handbells to seniors, when he saw their reactions to performances that involved ringing the br...