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Going on a trip? Oregon’s magic mushroom experiment advances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s pioneering experiment with legalized magic mushrooms took a step closer to reality as the first “facilitators” who will accompany clients as they experience the drug received their state licenses, authorities said Tuesday.Voters approved the regulated use of psilocybin in a 2020 ballot measure, and anticipation has been building over the past 2 1/2 years for the day — expected to come later this year — when people can gain access to the drug that studies indicate has therapeutic value. Hundreds of people have invested thousands of dollars apiece in this budding industry, and some worry that the rollout is proceeding too slowly. “We thank you for your dedication to client safety and access as we move closer to opening service centers,” Oregon Psilocybin Services Manager Angie Allbee said in a statement Tuesday to three people who received the state’s first facilitator licenses.But to date, no service centers — where customers would access...

1st Black chief judge for New York state confirmed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s Senate confirmed Rowan Wilson as the state’s first Black chief judge Tuesday, two months after lawmakers dealt Gov. Kathy Hochul a political defeat by rejecting her initial nominee for the top court post.Wilson has been an associate judge of the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, since 2017. Hochul tapped him earlier this month to lead the seven-member high court and oversee the state’s judicial system. The confirmation vote caps months of conflict between Hochul and her fellow Democrats in control of the Senate over the direction of the court.“Judge Wilson has proven himself to be one of the most thoughtful, well-written and persuasive jurors in the nation, and in the history of the Court of Appeals,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, chair of the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the floor.Wilson’s nomination came after Hochul’s first choice, Hector LaSalle, faced a barrage of criticism from liberal senators and thei...

Russian minister visits Venezuela, offers full support

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Russia and Venezuela reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and several other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats and other high-level officials Tuesday in the South American country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil held a joint press conference in Caracas hours after the former arrived to the allied country in the second stop of a tour of four Latin American nations. Both men vowed continued support for each other’s country and condemned the economic sanctions that the United States government has imposed on them.“We fully support the position of our Venezuelan friends,” Lavrov said. “It is their country … and we are going to support it in any way so that the Venezuelan economy becomes an independent economy from the pressures of the United States and other western actors.”Lavrov’s remarks were translated from Russian to Spa...

Neighbor: Man in wrong-turn shooting disliked trespassers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

When Kaylin Gillis and her friends took a wrong turn into an upstate New York driveway last weekend, they couldn’t have known the property was owned by a man who, according to a neighbor, had grown increasingly bitter over the years at people driving onto his land by mistake.This time, the error proved fatal. The Hebron landowner, Kevin Monahan, opened fire Saturday night, killing 20-year-old Gillis as she and her friends drove away after turning around in the long dirt driveway, Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said.Monahan, 65, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge and remains detained pending a bond hearing.One of his neighbors, Adam Matthews, who runs an auto repair shop in nearby Salem, said Monahan had become more and more upset in recent years at people making wrong turns into his driveway.“I’m just a bit overwhelmed,” Matthews said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday after speaking to other news outlets. “It is a tragic...

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to be deposed in Epstein suit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon must undergo up to two days of questioning by lawyers handling lawsuits over whether the bank can be held liable in financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls and women, a federal judge said Tuesday.During a telephone conference with lawyers, Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan ordered Dimon to set aside two days for deposition testimony, though he didn’t specify when. He said one day of testimony might be sufficient and lawyers would have to get his approval to continue to a second day.The New York bank, the nation’s largest, has been sued by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and two women, both identified as Jane Doe, who say they were abused by Epstein.The lawsuits contend JPMorgan should have seen evidence of Epstein’s sex trafficking and avoided profiting from it.The bank, besides denying the allegations, has sued one of its former executives, saying the man hid Epstein’s decades of sex abuse ...

5 indicted in NY for scheme to drug, kill and rob men

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died in a taxi of an overdose last April after leaving a bar in Manhattan with a group of men. Relatives grew suspicious when they discovered money missing from his bank account.A month later, John Umberger was found dead in a townhouse after leaving a nightclub so incapacitated that he had to be helped by several companions, police say.Umberger’s family suspected foul play, doubting that the 33-year-old political consultant visiting New York City from Washington, D.C., would have purposely taken a lethal dose of drugs. Suspicions heightened when his bank, too, appeared to have been drained. A grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday names five men in connection to the drugging deaths of the two men as part of a criminal operation to steal money. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said the group targeted men at bars and clubs — befriending them and then plying them with potent and dangerous drugs. When their victi...

Activists demand police reform after Jayland Walker decision

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Social justice activists called for widespread police reforms while marching through the streets of Akron on Tuesday, a day after a grand jury declined to indict eight police officers who fired 94 shots at Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man killed after what started as a traffic stop.Organizers of the march told dozens of protesters to make their voices heard but urged them not to become violent. Protests following Walker’s death and the release of body-camera footage of the shooting led to daily protests last summer and a citywide curfew. City leaders in recent days set up a protest zone downtown in anticipation of more demonstrations. Walker was shot 46 times in a barrage of gunfire that lasted just under seven seconds on June 27 after he jumped out of his still-moving car and ran from police. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Monday the state’s investigation found that Walker fired at least one round at officers while he was in his car and then la...

Search underway for missing Cook County woman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Cook County Sheriff's Police Department is asking for the public's help in locating a 64-year-old woman who was last seen on April 13.Paula Gibbs, 64, of unincorporated Leyden Township, was last seen on Thursday, April 13 on the 2500 block of Mannheim Road after driving off from a motel. Judge tentatively OKs $725M Facebook settlement: How to apply for a payout She left the motel driving in her maroon 2011 Toyota Highlander with Illinois license plate DS43090. Her car has a broken headlight on the passenger side, according to authorities.Gibbs is described as 5-foot-4, weighing 200 pounds, with brown eyes and gray hair. She was last seen wearing a sweat suit and a black zip-up jacket.Anyone with information on Gibbs whereabouts is asked to contact the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department at 708-865-4896.

Coroner: Aaron Carter drowned in tub due to drug, inhalant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

Singer and rapper Aaron Carter accidentally drowned in his bathtub due to sedatives he'd taken and gas used in spray cleaners he had inhaled, a coroner's report said Tuesday.Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter, was found submerged and dead at age 34 in the bathtub of his home in Lancaster, California, on Nov. 5, the autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner said. Singer Aaron Carter dies at 34 The sedative alprazolam, often sold under the brand name Xanax, was found in his system, as was the compressed gas difluoroethane, which the report says is “a gas commonly used as a propellant in air spray cleaners,” which “can induce feelings of euphoria when inhaled."The two substances made him incapacitated in the tub, and caused the drowning, the report said. Aaron Carter’s life in photos The autopsy was performed the day after Carter's death, but the results were withheld for toxicology tests, which often take months.

CPS reveals prelim. budget plans for 2024 fiscal year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:51 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Public School system has revealed their plans for the 2024 fiscal year.CPS CEO Pedro Martinez unveiled budget plans during a zoom meeting alongside board members Tuesday, emphasizing a focus on equity, stability and acceleration."We know that our kids are capable of amazing growth while we support their learning," Martinez said during the Zoom meeting.CPS's current budget totals to $9.4 billion, while next year's number won't be disclosed until this summer."These exact numbers are subject to change as we work with school leaders and the budget process," Martinez said. South Side high school principal removed from post While Martinez was mum on specific numbers for the entire 2024 fiscal budget, he did promise that most of CPS's 633 schools will receive more funding than they did last year."We are projecting to add 150 million dollars for this next school year," Martinez said. "In addition to the 240 million that added for the current year that we're in."Sever...