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Tyngsboro daycare case: Ex-NH state rep charged with exploitation of children pleads not guilty, goes into federal detention

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

The former New Hampshire lawmaker accused of working with an ex-romantic partner and daycare worker to trade child pornography has pleaded not guilty to the three charges of sexual exploitation of children and has entered federal custody.Stacie Marie Laughton, who identifies as a transgender woman, appeared in federal court in Boston Friday morning following an indictment the day before charging both Laughton and the former daycare worker, Lindsay Groves, with multiple counts related to child pornography.Like Groves at her arraignment and detention hearing earlier this month, Laughton wore an orange Hillsboro County Department of Corrections jumpsuit, as Laughton was being held in New Hampshire on related state charges. That changed Friday when Laughton entered federal custody.“Your honor, Ms. Laughton would like to consent to voluntary detention at this time,” defense attorney Jessica Hedges said.Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell agreed to the detention and a U.S. Marsh...

Emmys postponed by writer, actor strikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

(The Hill) -- The Emmy Awards are reportedly getting pushed back and won’t air on Sep. 18 due to a pair of high-profile entertainment industry labor strikes.The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards was poised to air on Fox but has been postponed from its original mid-September airdate, according to multiple reports.The delay is due to strikes by both SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ guild, began a strike for higher wages and better compensation for streaming productions, among other issues, earlier this month. The WGA has been on strike over similar demands since May. Tiffany and Co.’s new Beyoncé collection set to benefit HBCUs It’s the first time in more than two decades that the Emmys have been postponed, according to Variety, which was the first to report the awards show’s delay on Thursday. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the United States invasion of Afghanistan two months later delayed the Emmys that year until November.A...

5 San Diego-area spas offering deals during National Wellness Month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- In need of some rest and relaxation? National Wellness Month, which takes place in August, encourages prioritizing your self-care, managing stress and promoting healthy routines. This is the most affordable housing market among San Diego metro’s largest cities: report Here is a list of five spas offering deals for National Wellness Month where you can enjoy the coastal vibes while getting your mind and body right. SpaTerre at Kona Kai San DiegoSpaTerre (SpaTerre)Receive a $20 credit or join six-month membership program to gain exclusive perks for members and their loved ones at the Shelter Island spa.Spa Brezza at San Diego Mission Bay ResortSpa Brezza (Spa Brezza)Residents will be able to receive access to the pool, spa amenities and parking with the purchase of either a 50-minute Noble Massage, Gentle Prenatal Massage or Pure Results Facial for $135 from Wednesday - Friday and Sunday.Spa Estancia at Estancia La Jolla Hotel & SpaEsta...

Tri-City Medical Center to suspend women and newborn services by October 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The Tri-City Healthcare District Board of Directors voted unanimously to suspend the Oceanside hospital’s women and newborn services.Even though the vote was unanimous, both board members and nurses were seen getting emotional after the decision.“We’ve worked at other NICUs and it’s not like this, so we are grieving this loss. It’s a loss,” said Christina Marks, a NICU nurse at Tri-City Medical Center.Nurses like Marks were saddened by the decision, but they’re also worried.“Just recently, we’ve had a couple of babies that were born in our emergency room or born outside and brought in right away to us. We’re really concerned about what’s going to happen to those babies if we hadn’t been here to interact immediately,” said Julie Anchustigui. She also called the potential delay in care “really scary.” This is the most affordable housing market among San Diego metro’s largest cities: report The next closest hospital, Palomar Medical Center, is more than 10 miles a...

Biden signs an executive order changing the military code of justice for sexual assault victims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday giving decisions on the prosecution of serious military crimes, including sexual assault, to independent military attorneys, taking that power away from victims’ commanders.The order formally implements legislation passed by Congress in 2022 aimed at strengthening protections for service members, who were often at the mercy of their commanders to decide whether to take their assault claims seriously. Members of Congress, frustrated with the growing number of sexual assaults in the military, fought with defense leaders for several years over the issue. They argued that commanders at times were willing to ignore charges or incidents in their units to protect those accused of offenses and that using independent lawyers would beef up prosecutions. Military leaders balked, saying it could erode commanders’ authority.The change was among more than two dozen recommendations made in 2021 by an independent ...

How living in a mobile home makes you more likely to die in a tornado

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — Many were not just killed at home. They were killed by their homes.Angela Eason had visited Brenda Odoms’ tidy mobile home before. It was a place where Odoms, who had many tragedies in her life, felt safe.In March, a tornado ripped through this small Mississippi town and people in mobile or manufactured homes were hit the hardest. Inside a mobile morgue, Eason, the county coroner, examined Odoms’ gaping fatal head wound. Odoms was found just outside of her collapsed mobile home that was tossed around by a tornado. Blunt force trauma killed her.“The one place she felt safe she was not,” Eason said. Fourteen people died in that Rolling Fork tornado, nine of them, including Odoms, were in uprooted manufactured or mobile homes.Tornadoes in the United States are disproportionately killing more people in mobile or manufactured homes, especially in the South, often victimizing some of the most socially and economically vulnerable residents. Since 1996, tornadoes ...

Federal government posts $1.5B surplus for first two months of fiscal year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government posted a budgetary surplus of $1.5 billion in April and May, the first two months of the 2023-24 fiscal year.In its monthly fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says the result compared to a surplus of $5.3 billion during the same period in the previous fiscal year.Revenues rose by $1.3 billion or 1.8 per cent due to higher interest and employment insurance premiums, on top of greater proceeds from personal income tax and a carbon pricing hike.Expenses rose $3.9 billion or 6.6 per cent as the government paid out more returns under the pollution pricing framework as well as higher elderly benefits and transfers to other levels of government — all partly offset by the wind-down of COVID-19 income supports.Higher interest rates have pushed up public debt charges by $1.3 billion or 22.8 per cent since the year before.Meanwhile, net actuarial losses decreased by $100 million or 4.7 per cent.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2...

Salvage crews board a cargo ship burning off the Netherlands. The smoke and flames are easing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Salvage crews dealing with a cargo ship loaded with cars that has been burning for more than two days off the northern Dutch coast boarded the vessel for the first time Friday as heat, flames and smoke eased, the Netherlands’ coast guard said.“In the course of the morning, after measurements by the recovery companies, it turned out that the temperature on board the Fremantle Highway had dropped sharply. The fire is still raging but decreasing. The smoke is also decreasing,” the coast guard said in a statement.Salvage workers boarded the ship and established “a new more robust towing connection,” the agency added. “This makes it easier to move the ship and keep it under control.”Government officials are now “looking at various scenarios to determine the next steps,” the coast guard said.One crew member died and others were injured after the blaze started. The entire crew was evacuated from the ship in the early hours of Wednesday, with some leaping into ...

S&P/TSX composite up in late-morning trading Friday, U.S. markets also rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index rose more than 100 points in late-morning trading, led by energy, industrial and technology stocks, while U.S. markets also rose. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 179.49 points at 20,564.96.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 245.89 points at 35,528.61. The S&P 500 index was up 48.73 points at 4,586.14, while the Nasdaq composite was up 271.21 points at 14,321.32.The Canadian dollar traded for 75.59 cents UScompared with 75.75 cents US on Thursday.The September crude oil contract was down seven cents at US$80.02 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up two cents at US$2.62 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was up US$15.90 at US$2,001.10 an ounce and the September copper contract was up four cents at US$3.91 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Moscow blames Kyiv for a missile attack in southern Russia as Kremlin forces pound Ukrainian village

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:05:51 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces on Friday pounded a key village that Ukraine claimed to have recaptured in its grinding counteroffensive in the country’s southeast, while Moscow accused Kyiv of firing a missile at a city in southern Russia that officials there said wounded 15 people.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, marked Ukraine’s Statehood Day by reaffirming the country’s sovereignty — a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used his claim that Ukraine didn’t exist as a nation to justify his invasion.“Now, like more than a thousand years ago, our civilizational choice is unity with the world,” Zelenskyy said in a speech outside St. Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv. “To be a power in world history. To have the right to its national history – of its people, its land, its state. And of our children – all future generations of the Ukrainian people. We will definitely win!”He also honored servicemen and handed out first passports to young citiz...