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Challenge to Florida drag shows law won’t go to trial until next spring

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A trial to determine if a new Florida law targeting drag shows is constitutional won’t start until next spring.A filing posted in federal court in Tallahassee late last week shows that the trial won’t start until the beginning of June 2024. It is scheduled to last two days and will be decided by a judge instead of a jury.The law, championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is on hold for now. A federal judge last month issued a temporary injunction preventing it from being enforced until the trial is held. The state of Florida has appealed that decision.Last week, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued an order clarifying that the injunction applied to all venues in Florida, not just the restaurant that had sued the state challenging the law’s constitutionality.The new law punishes venues for allowing children into “adult live performances.” Although it does not specify drag shows, the sponsor of the legislation said it was aimed at those per...

Investigation underway after human remains found in suitcases along Delray Beach Intracoastal Waterway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

DELRAY BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – The Delray Beach Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting a suspicious item in the water along the intracoastal waterway near the 1000 block of Palm Trail in Delray Beach, Friday afternoon. Upon arrival, officers made a grim discovery – a suitcase containing human remains. Subsequently, two more suitcases were found at nearby locations along the intracoastal, both also containing human remains.As the investigation unfolds, authorities have determined that the human remains belong to one unidentified adult female. The three suitcases were located at separate sites, with one at the initial location on Palm Trail, and the others found near SE 7th Avenue and Casuarina Road.Picture of the floral tank top the victim was wearing (Courtesy Delray Beach Police Department)According to police, the victim is a white or Hispanic middle aged woman with brown hair and stands approximately 5’4″ tall. She may have had tattooed eyebrows a...

North Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles after US submarine arrives in South Korea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea, South Korea’s military said Tuesday, adding to a recent streak in weapons testing that is apparently in protest of the U.S. sending major naval assets to South Korea in a show of force.In its third round of launches since last week, North Korea fired the missiles consecutively between around 11:55 p.m. local time Monday and midnight from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said both missiles traveled around 400 kilometers (248 miles) before landing in waters off the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast and that the South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies were analyzing the launches.Japan’s Coast Guard urged vessels in affected areas to watch out for falling debris but there were no immediate reports of damage.The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement condemned North Korea’s missile launches as a “grave provocation” tha...

3 injured after SUV driver crashes into senior living facility in Groveland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

At least three people were injured after authorities say a driver struck part of a senior living facility in Groveland.The Groveland Fire Department said emergency crews were called to Nichols Village late Monday morning where a vehicle ended up embedded in the wall of a building.Officials said the driver, an 83-year-old man, and two occupants of a multi-family unit were injured as a result of the crash. One of the occupants was treated at the scene while the other, an 84-year-old woman, and the SUV driver were taken to a hospital for further treatment.Details on what led up to the wreck have not yet been released.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Oklahoma Senate overrides GOP governor’s vetoes on Native American compacts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate met in a special session Monday and overrode GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt’s vetoes of two bills to extend existing agreements with Native American tribes for another year.The overrides were the latest development in an ongoing dispute between Stitt and several Oklahoma-based tribes. Stitt, himself a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, wants to renegotiate tribal compacts on the sale of tobacco products and the issuance of motor vehicle tags by tribes. Several of the state’s most powerful tribal leaders were in the gallery during Monday’s debate and praised the Senate for overriding the governor’s vetoes.Stitt has raised concerns that the existing compact language needs to be rewritten in light of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that led to the reservation boundaries of several Oklahoma-based tribes being upheld.“I am trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation, and I’ve been working to ensure thes...

Russian president signs legislation marking the final step outlawing gender-affirming procedures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed new legislation Monday which marked the final step in outlawing gender-affirming procedures, a crippling blow to Russia’s already embattled LGBTQ+ community.The bill, which was approved unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.It also annuls marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values.” Lawmakers say the legislation is to safeguard Russia against “Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism.”Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a...

Police seek 4 youths in arson that caused $3M damage to Newmarket building

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

York Regional Police are trying to identify four suspects, believed to be teens, after an abandoned store was set on fire in Newmarket last weekend, causing $3 million in damage.Emergency crews responded to an abandoned carpet store in the Davis Drive and Main Street area on Saturday, July 22, at around 7:50 p.m.Upon arrival, smoke was billowing from the roof area of the structure.Central York Fire Services extinguished the blaze, but not before it caused millions of dollars in damage.“Fortunately, no one was injured as the building was unoccupied,” police said in a release.Police later received information that several suspects were spotted pouring an accelerant onto the building and lighting it on fire.Two of the suspects were seen running northbound on Main Street, with the other two fleeing eastbound on Davis Drive.They are described as:Suspect 1:Male, white, 15-18 yearsfive foot seven, 130-150 lbs.Long shaggy brown hair with a black sweatband around his headWearing ...

Crop farmers asked to help their ranching neighbours as Prairie drought continues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

REGINA — Saskatchewan farmers forced to write off drought-afflicted crops are being asked to consider ways to turn those crops into cattle feed instead.According to Agriculture Canada’s most recent drought monitor report, 76 per cent of the country’s agricultural landscape is either abnormally dry or experiencing moderate to severe drought this summer.Cattle producers in the Prairie provinces have complained of feed shortages as hay and other grazing crops wither and die.The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan says it’s encouraging crop farmers to help their neighbours who have cattle by converting crops to livestock feed.The Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation allows farmers who have had to write off crops this summer due to low yields or grasshopper damage to divert those crops to feed.Farm groups are encouraging producers to allow a neighbour to cut and bale the crop, or even put up temporary fencing around their written-off acres so that they can b...

Russia wants allies, so it’s hosting an Africa summit. Food security and Wagner group top the agenda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — As Russia seeks more allies during its invasion of Ukraine, longtime U.S. security partner Kenya might not be an obvious choice. But hours after Russia terminated a deal to keep grain flowing from Ukraine, Moscow’s ambassador saw an opening to appeal to one of the African countries that would feel the effects the most.In an opinion piece for two of Kenya’s largest newspapers, Ambassador Dmitry Maksimychev blamed the United States and the European Union for the deal’s collapse, asserting they had “used every trick” to keep Russian grain and fertilizer from the global markets.“Now, my dear Kenyan friends, you know the whole truth about who is weaponizing food,” he wrote.It’s the kind of brash outreach expected this week at the second Russia-Africa Summit. Grain supplies are in question. The future of the Wagner military group is, too. It’s a notable time for Russia to host nearly 50 African countries that rely heavily on Moscow for agricultural ...

Israeli doctors reveal Netanyahu’s heart problem only after implanting pacemaker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:16:33 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — After undergoing emergency surgery to implant a pacemaker, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, made a video appearance from a hospital near Tel Aviv. Wearing a crisp dark suit, he grinned and declared energetically that he felt “great, as you can see.”But the Sunday photo-op failed to reassure Israelis, who were shocked to learn the same day that their longest-serving prime minister had concealed a long-known heart problem. The admission was a stark contrast to the image of a fully healthy, energetic leader that Netanyahu has gone to great lengths to bolster. A week after a fainting spell, Netanyahu was urgently fitted with a pacemaker to control his heartbeat. Only then did staff at the Sheba Medical Center reveal Sunday night that Netanyahu has for years experienced a condition that can cause irregular heartbeats.Until Sunday, the cardiologists had publicly played down concerns, saying the prime minister was dehydrated and describing his heartbeat as “c...