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Air Force base defends itself from claims of political bias over conservative rally warning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

The Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota is defending itself from claims of political bias after an unofficial message cautioning airmen to not attend a conservative political rally began circulating on social media. At issue is the Dakota Patriot Rally, an event held Friday in Minot featuring a pro-Trump group known as Turning Point Action. The group’s founder is Charlie Kirk, a white conservative agitator who has built a following inflaming racial divides. For instance, “scumbag” is how he has described George Floyd, the Black man whose murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer set off a global reckoning over racial injustice.A message that was re-posted to a public Facebook page and was purported to be from base leadership described the group as an “alt-right organization.” It said that “participation with groups such as Turning Point Action could jeopardize their continued service in the U.S. military.”The outcry was immediate, with Republican U.S. Sen. Kevin Cra...

Health Canada approves nationwide removal of blood donor ban sparked by mad cow fears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

Health Canada is lifting a ban on blood donations from people who lived or travelled in the United Kingdom, Ireland or France for long periods of time in the 1980s and 1990s. The decades-long rule was a precaution to prevent the transmission of mad cow disease through blood transfusions from people who had a higher likelihood of being exposed.Canadian Blood Services says almost 30 years of research and surveillance have made it clear that people who weren’t eligible to donate under the travel criteria can do so safely. The agency’s medical officer, Dr. Aditi Khandelwal, says lifting the ban will not impact the safety of the blood supply and will allow thousands more people to donate much-needed blood.   The news comes hours after Health Canada authorized Héma-Québec – which manages the blood supply in Quebec – to remove the same ban. The change takes effect across Canada on Dec. 4.The United States and Australia each lifted similar ba...

Mexico rights agency says soldiers fired ‘without reason’ in border city in 2022, killing a man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s governmental human rights agency said Wednesday that soldiers opened fire “without reason” a year ago in the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo, killing a man. The National Human Rights Commission said soldiers had argued that the occupants of a pickup truck had opened fire first on a road in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. But the commission said no gunshot residue was found on any of the four people in the truck following the confrontation on Nov. 4, 2022. The commission said none of the victims had fired a gun, and issued a call for the Defense Department to cooperate in the investigation and take action to compensate the survivors. It would hardly be the first time that soldiers had engaged in such acts in Nuevo Laredo, where troops regularly come under fire from the Northeast drug cartel, which dominates the city.In February, the army acknowledged that four soldiers opened fire on a pickup truck in Nuevo Laredo, killing five men ...

What the events leading up to Sam Altman’s reinstatement at OpenAI mean for the industry’s future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been quite a week for ChatGPT-maker OpenAI — and co-founder Sam Altman.Altman, who helped start OpenAI as a nonprofit research lab back in 2015, was removed as CEO Friday in a sudden and mostly unexplained exit that stunned the industry. And while his chief executive title was swiftly reinstated just days later, a lot of questions are still up in the air.If you’re just catching up on the OpenAI saga and what’s at stake for the artificial intelligence space as a whole, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a rundown of what you need to know.WHO IS SAM ALTMAN AND HOW DID HE RISE TO FAME?Altman is co-founder of OpenAI, the San Francisco-based company behind ChatGPT (yes, the chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today — from schools to health care ).The explosion of ChatGPT since its arrival one year ago propelled Altman into the spotlight of the rapid commercialization of generative AI — which can produce novel imagery, passages ...

Christian school that objected to transgender athlete sues Vermont after it’s banned from competing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

A Vermont Christian school that withdrew its girls basketball team from a playoff game because a transgender student was playing on the opposing team is suing Vermont for barring it from state tournaments and a state tuition program.Mid Vermont Christian School of Quechee forfeited the Feb. 21 game, saying it believed that the transgender player jeopardized “the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”The executive council of the Vermont Principals’ Association, which governs school sports and activities, ruled in March that Mid Vermont Christian had violated the council’s policies on race, gender and disability awareness, and therefore was ineligible to participate in future tournaments.The school filed a federal lawsuit in Burlington on Tuesday, saying the Vermont Agency of Education’s refusal to designate it as an approved independent school amounted to discrimination against religious schools.A separate entity, the Vermont State Board of Educa...

Former Chicago track coach pleads guilty to tricking women into sending him nude photos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A former college track and field coach accused of setting up sham social media and email accounts in an attempt to trick women into sending him nude or semi-nude photos of themselves pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston, prosecutors said Tuesday.Steve Waithe, 30, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and one count of computer fraud, prosecutors said.Waithe also pleaded guilty to cyberstalking one victim through text messages and direct messages sent via social media, as well as by hacking into her Snapchat account, prosecutors said. ORIGINAL: Former Chicago track coach charged with nude photo scheme A lawyer for Waithe did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.Sentencing is scheduled for March 6, 2024. Waithe was originally arrested in April.Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy called Waithe's behavior despicable.“For almost a year, he manipulated, exploited and in one ca...

Ethics panel won't establish subcommittee to investigate Bowman for pulling fire alarm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

(The Hill) — The House Ethics Committee said it will not establish a subcommittee to investigate Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who was charged with pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol ahead of a House vote. Ethics Committee chairman Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and ranking member Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA.) shared the news in a Wednesday statement.The panel has 30 days after a House member is charged with a crime to decide whether to launch an investigative subcommittee (ISC) and issue a report to the House on the matter. “Pursuant to Committee Rule 10(a), establishment of an ISC and a report to the House regarding the conduct of a Member both require an affirmative vote of a majority of the Members of the Committee,” the committee said in its news release. “A majority of the Members of the Committee did not agree to establish an ISC or report to the House regarding Representative Bowman’s conduct.” The Ethics committee announcement comes nearly a month after Bowman pleade...

Police investigating southeast Austin death Wednesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

Editor's Note: The video at the top of this story shows KXAN’s morning headlines for Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department is investigating a death in southeast Austin Wednesday afternoon, officials said in a social media post. Originally referred to as a homicide, the incident happened near the intersection of Deer Run Drive and Blue Dawn Trail, police said. That's near East William Cannon Drive and Bluff Springs Road.Originally, APD said officers would host a media briefing at a to-be-determined time. However, just after 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, APD posted on social media that it had canceled the briefing."Live briefing has been canceled. Investigators are on-scene conducting a death investigation regarding this incident," the post read.The Austin Police Department is investigating a homicide in southeast Austin Nov. 22, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez)The Austin Police Department is investigating a homicide in southeast Austin Nov. 22, 2023. (KXAN Ph...

Spotty showers for Thanksgiving

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- What a beautiful Wednesday with highs in the mid 60s under clear skies.Clouds will increase gradually as we approach midnight and beyond ahead of a weak storm system due to bring spotty showers our way for Thanksgiving. Overnight lows drop down to near 40º in Austin, but 30s will be more likely in the Hill Country before clouds thicken up.Thanksgiving Day Weather DetailsMorning lows: mid-30s to low 40sAfternoon highs: middle/upper 50s to near 60Winds: South 5-10 mphSky conditions: Cloudy most of the time, but some late day breaks of sun before sunsetRain chance: 20% for areas near and east of I-35 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.Rain totals: only a few hundredths of an inchThanksgiving rain chancesAn area of low pressure will pull in moisture from the Gulf leading to that little bit of rain in the Thanksgiving outlook. Dry lower levels of the atmosphere may have the radar looking wetter than what actually reaches the ground, but some light rain is still possible with a 20%...

Austin airport expects 34,000 departing travelers day before Thanksgiving

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- With Thanksgiving less than 24 hours away, travelers are flocking to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The Transportation Security Administration said it anticipates this will be the busiest holiday travel season ever, with more than 2.7 million passengers expected to move through airport security today. AUS said it expects about 34,000 departing travelers Wednesday. AUS suggests passengers check traffic conditions before heading to the airport. (Photo: KXAN)"That's not a record breaking busy day, but it is busy. What we're seeing are a lot of families, lots of strollers and small children, big groups," AUS Communications Manager Sam Haynes told KXAN.Haynes said surprisingly, this isn't their busiest day of the year. That's actually the Monday after the Formula One race.Still, she said it is busier than normal during the holidays. "It's still really important that folks get here with plenty of time to make it to their flight," Haynes said. "We see a lot ...