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DeSantis’ overseas trip overshadowed by fight with Disney

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hoped his first international trade mission would generate lucrative business deals and boost his foreign policy resume ahead of an expected presidential run. Instead, he faced questions about losing ground to former President Donald Trump and being taken to court by Walt Disney World.The trip reflected the intensifying pressure confronting DeSantis as some of his allies grow increasingly anxious about his White House prospects. Within a few short years, he rose from relatively a relatively obscure congressman to Trump’s leading Republican rival by embracing the former president’s cultural grievances without the constant tumult.But it turns out DeSantis isn’t immune from drama. Facing questions this week about his standing within the GOP and his fight with Disney, he’s sometimes appeared agitated, reinforcing concerns within corners of his own party about his readiness for the rigor of presidential politics. ...

Leeds winger Sinisterra done for season after ankle injury

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

LEEDS, England (AP) — Leeds lost a goal-scoring threat in its fight for English Premier League survival when Luis Sinisterra was ruled out for the remainder of the season Friday because of an ankle injury.The Colombia winger scored three goals in his last five appearances for relegation-threatened Leeds, which plays at Bournemouth on Sunday.Sinisterra was forced out of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester just past the half-hour mark, shortly after he headed in Jack Harrison’s cross to give his team an early lead at Elland Road.“It’s something in his ankle, a ligament,” manager Javi Gracia said Friday.Leeds has lacked bite defensively in the absence of midfielder Tyler Adams (hamstring) and key defender Max Wober, who remains doubtful for the Bournemouth game.“It’s tough for us to lose key players. I prefer to not complain. I have enough players to compete better and try to work with them,” Gracia said.Crysencio Summerville came on for Sinisterra on Tuesday, but...

Inflation pressures remain persistent as consumers pull back

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key measures of prices and wages remained high in March, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates next week for the 10th time since March of last year in its drive to defeat high inflation. An index that is closely followed by the Fed, which excludes volatile food and energy costs to capture “core” inflation, rose 0.3% from February to March and 4.6% from a year earlier, according to a report Friday from the Commerce Department. That is still far above the Fed’s 2% target rate. Some Fed officials are concerned that core inflation hasn’t declined much since reaching 4.7% in July. And a separate measure issued Friday by the Labor Department showed that workers’ pay and benefits rose 1.2% in the first three months of this year, faster than the 1.1% rise in last year’s final quarter. While that trend is good for employees, Fed officials worry that companies will seek to offset their higher labor costs by further raising prices and perpet...

Polis signs gun control bills after massacre

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s governor signed four gun control bills Friday, edging the once-purple state closer to liberal-leaning governments in California and New York just months after a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, the latest in the state’s long history of notorious massacres.The new laws, which Democrats pushed through despite late-night filibusters from Republicans, are aimed at quelling rising suicides and youth violence, preventing mass shootings and opening avenues for gun violence victims to sue the long-protected firearm industry.Republicans decried the bills as onerous encroachments on Second Amendment rights that would impede Colorado residents’ ability to defend themselves amid a rising statewide crime rate. Proposed new gun laws advance in Colorado Senate committee Two of the new laws will raise the age to buy any firearm from 18 to 21 and install a three-day waiting period between the purchase and receipt of a gun. A third will strengthen the sta...

DIA is Food and Wine's Editor's Choice for best cuisine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — If you are an avid traveler, you have probably spent plenty of time in airports whether that's because of delays, or because you like to arrive early. Before you jet set off to a new destination, it is always a good idea to grab a bite.Food and Wine asked travelers around the world about airport food and which airport was ranked the best for its cuisine. Denver International Airport made the list as one of the top airports with the best provisions. Not only was it honored with making the list, but it was also picked as the Editor's Choice by Food and Wine. Flying out of DIA? The airport is worst for delays Here is what the editors had to say about their pick:"Given that the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen has been around for 40 years, F&W editors are intimately acquainted with the Denver International Airport. Even when there are delays [and there are delays], the airport’s dining outlets offer everything you could want from a travel day meal, whether you need t...

Most of Yosemite National Park to close Friday over flooding concerns

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

(CNN) — The ramifications of California’s extreme winter and early spring weather continue.Most of Yosemite National Park will be closed to the public starting Friday night as flood concerns awash the region, the park announced Tuesday.Yosemite is expected to remain closed until Wednesday, May 3, “but could last longer,” the National Park Service said in the closure notice.As one storm after another dumped huge amounts of snow in the area, Yosemite was forced to close last month, and remained shut down for over three weeks. More than 15 feet of snow fell on the famous Tuolumne Meadows in less than a month.While the record snows were a relief in a state plagued by years of severe drought, that much in one season has also raised concerns for weeks now for flooding once the snows start to melt, creating something of a dripping time bomb.Meanwhile, snow is expected to persist at Yosemite and could remain well into July, the park said, warning hikers that trails a...

DeSantis and Florida GOP look to upend public record laws as they attempt to shield his travel and other records ahead of likely White House bid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

(CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP allies have moved to shield the Republican leader from the state’s notoriously robust public records laws as he prepares to launch a campaign for the White House.One bill advancing through the Republican-controlled state legislature would conceal information about DeSantis’ travel and who he has met with at the governor’s mansion. Another would allow state political committees — like the one where DeSantis has stashed $85 million for his future political ambitions — to report their fundraising activity less frequently.Separately, DeSantis in court cases has lately claimed “executive privilege” to block the release of records and to keep staff from testifying — a power typically reserved for presidents and which none of his predecessors had previously asserted is entrusted to the state’s governor. If realized, it would give DeSantis tremendous new discretion to keep information a...

Lake Mead remains identified as a Las Vegas man who disappeared 25 years ago

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

(CNN) — Human remains discovered at Boulder Beach on Lake Mead in Nevada during July and August 2022 have been identified as a 52-year-old man who disappeared in 1998, according to the Clark County Coroner’s office.In a news release, the coroner’s office stated medical examiners identified the remains as Las Vegas resident Claude Russell Pensinger, noting “The identification was based on DNA analysis.”The coroner’s office stated Pensinger’s skeletal remains were discovered by park visitors on three dates last summer. During the investigation, medical examiners “confirmed the three sets of remains belonged to the same person,” according to the release, which added, “The cause and manner of Mr. Pensinger’s death is undetermined.”CNN previously reported “drought across the American West has driven Lake Mead’s water levels to record lows and caused its shoreline to recede rapidly.” The receding sho...

Boris’s bodycount: BBC chief Richard Sharp is just the latest Johnson casualty

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

LONDON — Don’t go near Boris Johnson. Your reputation might depend on it. Richard Sharp, who resigned as BBC chairman Friday after a damaging report into his links to the former prime minister, is just the latest in a long line of figures who have taken a disastrous hit after personal dealings with Johnson. Responding to Sharp’s exit, one well-placed government official sighed that they didn’t know anyone who had worked with Sharp at the BBC who felt he hadn’t been a “good chairman.” “But Boris damages everyone,” they added pointedly.Here’s POLITICO’s guide to some of the other memorable casualties of dealings with Johnson.The ex-prime ministers’ clubJohnson’s unbridled ambition and capacity for trouble-making effectively ended the premierships of two of his Conservative predecessors.Johnson’s decision to back the Brexit camp during the 2016 referendum proved critical for the final result, forcing his old ...

Azerbaijani activists end Nagorno-Karabakh sit-in as Baku tightens grip on region

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:40 GMT

Azerbaijani activists have announced they will on Friday end their long-running sit-in on the sole road out of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, as construction of a checkpoint on the border with neighboring Armenia nears completion.According to organizers, the demonstrations on the Lachin Corridor will be “temporarily suspended” from 6 p.m. on Friday. Since December 12, civilian traffic and cargo deliveries to the isolated, Armenian-controlled territory have been stopped and only convoys of Russian peacekeepers and Red Cross aid workers have been able to travel along the highway for a total of four months, two weeks and two days. “The majority of our demands have been addressed, and by pausing our protest, we demonstrate our good faith, hoping for reciprocation and gestures of goodwill from the other side,” Adnan Huseyn, one of the organizers, told POLITICO. “If the situation reverts to ‘business as usual’, we can always resume our protest.” ...