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Virginia officer fatally shot during struggle with assault suspect in woods

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

WINTERGREEN, Va. (AP) — A police officer was fatally shot during a struggle with an assault suspect in the woods in a Virginia mountain town, authorities said Saturday.Wintergreen Police Department Officer Mark Christopher Wagner II was killed Friday night, Chief Dennis Russell said in a Facebook post. Wintergreen police received a call about a man assaulting two other men at a home, Virginia State Police said in a news release. The two injured men had run away from the home by the time police arrived, and they were treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries that were not life-threatening, state police said.Wagner found the assault suspect in nearby woods, and they got into a struggle. Wagner was shot during the confrontation and he died there, state police said. The suspect was taken into custody and was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries that were not life-threatening, state police said. He was not immediately identified. It was not immediately clear what charges h...

Biden’s rally with union workers marks first big event of his 2024 campaign

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden is promoting his pro-labor record Saturday at his first major political rally of his reelection campaign, appearing alongside union members to make the case that his economic agenda is boosting the middle class. He plans to “lay out the core principles of his economic message” during his remarks at the Philadelphia Convention Center, according to his campaign. He also intends to talk about how a sweeping climate, tax and health care package he signed into law last year has cut the cost of prescription drugs and lowered insurance premiums. It’s part of his administration’s focus on his achievements during his first two years in office — the centerpiece argument for a second term.The event, which organizers said included unions representing 18 million workers nationwide, recalled then-candidate Biden opening his 2020 presidential campaign at a union hall in Pittsburgh. That underscores just how important labor support will be to his...

Saudi foreign minister in Iran as part of restoration of diplomatic ties after a 7-year rift

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat arrived in Iran’s capital on Saturday, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, Iranian state media reported.Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was officially welcomed by his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran TV said. He carried a message from the Saudi king to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the two were due to meet later Saturday, Iran TV said. The visit comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia earlier in June. In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.Prince Faisal is expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran later on Saturday. Until the mission is completed, the employees are working from a Tehran hotel, Iran TV said. Both nations reopened their diplomatic missions in recent weeks.The agreement to reestablish di...

Under court deal, Binance can continue U.S. operations as it battles SEC fraud charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Binance have reached an agreement in court that lets the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange continue to operate in the United States as it battles SEC fraud charges.Under a consent order filed Saturday, the defendants in the June 5 lawsuit agreed to repatriate all assets held for the benefit of Binance’s U.S. trading customers.The SEC alleges Binance broke U.S. law by operating as an unregistered securities exchange. It filed similar charges against the world’s other top cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, nearly simultaneously.But Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, face additional charges of diverting customer funds – concealing the fact that it was commingling billions of dollars in investor assets and sending them to a third party that Zhao also owned. As a result, the SEC asked that the assets of Binance’s U.S. platform be frozen.The order signed by Washington, D.C. federal judge Amy Berman Jacks...

6 key points from the scathing report on Minneapolis police after George Floyd’s killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

The Justice Department on Friday issued a scathing assessment of Minneapolis police, alleging that racial discrimination and excessive force went unchecked before George Floyd’s killing because of inadequate oversight and an unwieldy process for investigating complaints.The probe began in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of Floyd, a Black man. Floyd, who was in handcuffs, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before going limp as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. The killing was recorded by a bystander and sparked months of mass protests as part of a broader national reckoning over racial injustice.Here are six takeaways from the report:WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE INVESTIGATION?The focus of the probe was to examine whether there has been a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing in the Minneapolis Police Department. It examined the use of force...

Wildfire in southern N.S. occurred amid some of driest recorded conditions: scientist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

HALIFAX — A federal scientist with the Canadian Forest Service is pointing to the driest conditions since the Second World War as a key factor behind the largest wildfire in Nova Scotia in the past century. Sylvie Gauthier says she reviewed the records and found the 235-square-kilometre fire in Barrington Lake that swept over bogs, fields and woodlands in southern Nova Scotia had the fourth highest rating for dryness of the woods since 1900, and the highest since 1944.The province’s Department of Natural Resources says the fire, which forced 6,000 evacuations and destroyed 60 houses and cottages, was the largest wildfire since the early 1920s when it began keeping records.Gauthier says the extreme dryness, along with coastal winds, may have enabled the fire to burn through the roughly 17 per cent of Crown lands rated as “wet” trees, and to burn or move across fields and bogs that make up about a quarter of Crown land in the area. Anthony Taylor, a forest ecologist ...

Supporter defends expelled Jesuit priest against ‘lynching’, says abuse claims unproven

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

ROME (AP) — The head of a religious art and culture center founded by a disgraced Jesuit priest came to his defense Saturday after he was expelled from the Jesuit religious order following allegations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse against adult women.Maria Campatelli, director of the Rome-based Aletti Center, said the claims against the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik were “defamatory and unproven” and amounted to a form of mediatic “lynching” against the Slovene priest and his art center.The Jesuits announced this week that Rupnik had been ordered expelled from the order June 9 because of “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.” The Jesuits acted after Rupnik had been accused by several women of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuses over a 30-year period. Until the case exploded publicly late last year, Rupnik had largely escaped punishment, apparently thanks in part to his exalted status in the church and at the Vatican, where even the role of Pope Francis in...

Biden seeing collapsed stretch of Interstate 95 from the air over Philadelphia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden was taking an aerial tour Saturday of the collapsed stretch of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and planned to meet with first responders and workers involved in rebuilding the critical stretch of highway along the East Coast.Joining Biden on the presidential Marine One helicopter were Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Rep. Brendan Boyle and Mayor Jim Kenney, all Democrats. Afterward, the president was to receive a briefing on the situation and then attend a political event with union workers at the city’s convention center.The White House said Biden’s movements in the city on Saturday would not interfere with traffic around I-95, its detour routes or reconstruction efforts.“President Biden has instructed his team to move heaven and earth and work around the clock to ensure the fastest possible reconstruction of the highway,” Olivia Dalton, the White House principal deputy press secretary, said Friday. The stretch of...

Virginia man's alleged attempt to burn down Mary Todd Lincoln House is foiled by police officer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDKY) — A Virginia man was arrested Thursday during an alleged attempt to burn down the Mary Todd Lincoln House in Lexington, officials say.A portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln seen in an exhibit in New York City in 1929. (AP Photo)Santosh Sharma, 29, was found by a Lexington police officer pouring gasoline on the rear of the building and holding a lighter in his hand, according to an arrest citation.The citations said Sharma had more gasoline in a drawstring bag tied to his back.  Man dies on Hawaiian honeymoon, thief steals backpack and car during CPR Sharma brandished a hammer when the officer approached, but the officer did not make notes of any conflict between the two in the citation, only noting that the hammer placed the officer in a position of fear of serious physical harm.Sharma was booked into the Fayette County Detention Center and charged with menacing, second-degree criminal trespassing, and second-degree attempted arson.The Mary Todd Lincoln House w...

Weekend Break: 37th annual Scottish festival & Highland Games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:31 GMT

Join WGN's Weekend Morning News with Weekend Break at the 37th annual Scottish Festival & Highland Games.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.