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20 years after invasion, Iraqis still waiting to come to US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ammar Rashed has a stack of letters from U.S. troops attesting to his work during some of the most dangerous days of the Iraq War. But six years after he applied to immigrate to the United States under a program for interpreters who helped America, he is still waiting.“You don’t have to keep me and my family suffering for, for years waiting,” said Rashed during a Skype interview from Jordan, where he lives. “It’s really frustrating.”Rashed is among thousands of Iraqis, many of whom risked their lives by working closely with Americans during the war and its aftermath, trying to enter the U.S. An estimated 164,000 Iraqis already have found homes in America. U.S. officials cite multiple reasons for the delays, including an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a hack of a refugee database, the COVID-19 pandemic and cuts to the refugee program under then-President Donald Trump. Sometimes the process is slowed as applicants struggle to prove their ties to the U.S. Moha...

More than 1 million dropped from Medicaid as states start post-pandemic purge of rolls

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork.Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President’s Joe Biden’s administration isn’t too pleased at how efficiently some other states are accomplishing the task. “Pushing through things and rushing it will lead to eligible people — kids and families — losing coverage for some period of time,” Daniel Tsai, a top federal Medicaid official recently told reporters.Already, about 1.5 million people have been removed from Medicaid in more than two dozen states that started the process in April or May, according to publicly available reports and data obtained by The Associated Press. Florida has dropped several hundred thousand people, by far the most among states. The drop rate also has been particularly high in other states. F...

Likely Help Keep Temperatures From Getting Too Hot.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

Juneteenth: Monday's warm and dry holiday with increasing sunshine through the day. We'll start the holiday with a decent amount of cloud cover, but as the day progresses the skies are expected to gradually clear.  As inland highs reach the mid-80s, lakeside locations should see highs in the low to mid-70s.Anyone heading to a local beach or out on the water tomorrow is in for a treat.  Just don't forget the sunscreen.  The UV index is an 8, which is very high.Flow Around Cut-Off Low Will Likely Help Keep Temperatures From Getting Too Hot. There's been a recent change in the computer forecast models that is expected to keep our temperatures in check. Yesterday, it appeared we'd likely see parts of the region see some low to mid-90s by Wednesday or Thursday.  Now we're seeing a cutoff low that's expected to develop across the southeast US and Ohio Valley.  Rainfall and clouds will stick closer the Low, but the flow around the low will likely help keep temperatures from getting too hot...

Man arrested for kicking, severely injuring tiny dog in Venice

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

A suspect accused of kicking and severely injuring a small dog in Venice was arrested, authorities announced Saturday.The suspect was identified as Michael Langman, 39, by the Los Angeles Police Department.On June 14, officers responded to reports of animal cruelty taking place on the 800 block of Pacific Avenue around 3:11 p.m.The dog’s owner, Laura Michele Rosenfeld, said she was walking her dog, Bart, when Langman, who appeared to be homeless and on drugs, "danced" up to them and kicked Bart so hard, “he flew into the metal claw of the bobcat tractor city workers were using to repair the street.”The impact caused severe injuries to Bart, said LAPD."The dog was not breathing,” said Rosenfeld. “His tongue was hanging out of his mouth. There was no life in his eyes. There was no pulse so I asked bystanders to call 911 and began CPR."Laura Michele Rosenfeld was walking her dog, Bart, when a homeless man “danced” up to them and kicked Bart, causing severe injury on June 14, 2023. (Lau...

Gators take control of their College World Series bracket with a 5-4 win over Oral Roberts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hurston Waldrep struck out 12 in six innings, and Florida homered three times in the first four innings to take a four-run lead on Oral Roberts.Then things got interesting at the College World Series — again.The Gators took control of Bracket 1 with a 5-4 victory Sunday night. But first Florida had to survive Matt Hogan’s inside-the-park home run that pulled ORU within two runs, a bases-loaded situation in the eighth when its closer was forced out of the game because of a mound-visit rules violation, and finally another threat in the ninth.“These past couple of games that have been played early on in the World Series have been kind of like thrill seekers towards the last couple innings,” Gators shortstop Josh Rivera said.For the first time in CWS history, which dates to 1947, five of the first six games have been decided by one run.“I think people here in Omaha are getting their money’s worth,” ORU coach Ryan Folmar said.The Gators (52-15) will play Wednesda...

POLITICO Pro Central Banker: Mysterious fraud — CBDC innovation theater— BoE bother

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

Our one-stop source for central banking & monetary policy news.View in your browser or listen to audioBy GEOFFREY SMITHwith CARLO BOFFA, BEN MUNSTER, BJARKE SMITH-MEYER, PAOLA TAMMA and IZABELLA KAMINSKASNEAK PEEK— A Bank of Italy economist managed to swindle his employer and an EU committee out of hundreds of thousands of euros.— Confidence in the Bank of England hits an all-time low — and Mark Carney says Brexit is to blame.— ECB officials add nuance to Christine Lagarde’s hawkish press conference.POLICY TICKERECB 3.50% ⇡ — BOE 4.5% ⇡ — FED 5.25% ⇡— SNB 1.5% ⇡— BOJ -0.10% ⇣— RBA 4.10% ⇡— PBOC 3.65%⇣— CBR 7.5% ⇣ — BOC 4.75 ⇡— SARB 8.25% ⇡Good morning, everyone. I hope the weekend rain was kind to your garden without otherwise spoiling your fun. It can’t have been much of a fun weekend for Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, after The Times reported an Ipsos poll showing public confidence in the bank at its lowest ever on Friday. The diffusion poll showed a net ba...

Wages are finally rising in Japan, as inflation eats away at consumer gains

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Wages are rising in Japan more than they have in decades, at least for some workers. But so are prices, leaving many people feeling they must scrimp more than ever. In May, the consumer price index was up 3.2% from a year earlier, well above the central bank’s target of about 2%. That’s great news for policymakers trying to get the world’s third largest economy out of the doldrums by keeping credit super cheap to spur demand and push prices higher.But a government survey of companies with five or more employees found real wages, taking into account higher prices, fell 3% from the a year earlier in April, marking the 13th straight month of declines.Although all the major companies have raised wages this year, with large labor union members landing a 4% hike, the highest in 30 years, a quarter of small and medium-size businesses — employers of more than two-thirds of all workers — gave no pay raises, according to the think tank Tokyo Shoko Research.“My wages haven’t gone ...

6 killed, dozens injured in spate of weekend shootings across US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

A spate of weekend mass shootings and violence across the U.S. killed at least six people, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and left dozens injured.The shootings follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. They happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore.“There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.”Researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the prevalence of guns in America, or by less aggressive police tactics or a decline in prosecutions for misdemeanor weapon offenses, Nagin said. As of Sunday evening, non...

Amazon, Marriott and other companies vow to hire thousands of refugees in Europe

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

Multinational companies including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton pledged Monday to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe.Just ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, more than 40 corporations say they will hire, connect to work or train a total of 250,000 refugees, with 13,680 of them getting jobs directly in those companies.“Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection and wanting to be able to rebuild as quickly as possible,” said Kelly Clements, U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees. “So the commitments that businesses are going to make on Monday are absolutely essential.” She says 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II. The hiring push in Europe was o...

Verdict in Oregon wildfires case highlights risks utilities face amid climate change

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:52 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury verdict that found an Oregon power company liable for devastating wildfires — and potentially billions of dollars in damages — is highlighting the legal and financial risks utilities take if they fail to take proper precautions in a hotter, drier climate.Utilities, especially in the U.S. West, are increasingly finding themselves in a financial bind that’s partly of their own making, experts say. While updating, replacing and even burying thousands of miles of powerlines is a time-consuming and costly undertaking, the failure to start that work in earnest years ago has put them on the back foot as wildfires have grown more destructive — and lawsuits over electrical equipment sparking blazes have ballooned.“How do they pay for that and at the same time try to do grid hardening at a pace that could prevent the need for constant shutting down of the power?” Josh Hacker, chief science officer at Jupiter Intelligence, a company that provides advice on managing...