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Niger’s junta revokes key law that slowed migration for Africans desperate to reach Europe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Niger’s junta has signed a decree revoking a 2015 law that was enacted to curb the smuggling of migrants traveling from African countries through a key migration route in Niger en route to Europe, according to a government circular issued on Monday.“The convictions pronounced pursuant to said law and their effects shall be cancelled,” Niger’s junta leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, said in a Nov. 25 decree, a copy of which was seen Monday by The Associated Press.All those convicted under the law would be considered for release by the Ministry of Justice, Ibrahim Jean Etienne, the secretary general of the justice ministry said in the circular.The revocation of the law adds a new twist to growing political tensions between Niger and EU countries that sanctioned the West African nation in response to the July coup that deposed its democratically elected president and brought the junta into power.Niger’s Agadez region is a gateway from West Africa to the Sahara an...

Woman shocked with Taser while on ground is suing police officer and chief for not reporting it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A woman who was shocked in the back with a Taser while lying on the ground in Pueblo, Colorado, last year is suing the police officer who stunned her and the city’s police chief, accusing the police department of failing to report excessive force by the officer to state regulators.The federal lawsuit filed Sunday by Cristy Gonzales, who was suspected of stealing a vehicle, says the police department found Cpl. Bennie Villanueva used excessive force against Gonzales and another person several weeks later. However, it says the agency withheld the information from a state board which oversees who is qualified to serve in law enforcement. If it had been reported, Villanueva would have lost his certification to work as a police officer for at least a year, the lawsuit said.Gonzales was suspected of stealing a truck in February 2022, and didn’t stop for Villanueva, according to a police investigation. Eventually the vehicle ran out of gas, according to the lawsui...

New York’s cannabis board votes to settle lawsuits that have stalled legal dispensaries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York cannabis regulators approved a deal on Monday to settle lawsuits that have blocked recreational marijuana dispensaries from opening, as officials move to restart the state’s troubled legal market. The settlement still needs a judge’s approval before it can take effect. The state’s Cannabis Control Board did not immediately release the terms of the settlement.The deal would lift a court order that has blocked the state from processing or issuing retail marijuana licenses since August, following lawsuits over rules that promised many of the first licenses to people with past drug convictions. New York’s retail marijuana market has been in disarray since sales began almost a year ago. Bureaucratic problems and lawsuits have allowed only about two-dozen legal shops to open, while farmers sit on a glut of crops and an ever-growing black market of storefronts fill the void. The New York State Cannabis Control Board said more than 400 provis...

16-year-old boy in critical condition after double shooting in Grand Crossing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

CHICAGO — A 16-year-old boy is in critical condition following a double shooting in Chicago's Grand Crossing neighborhood.SkyCam9 flew above the scene in the 300 block of W. 75th St., where police say a 20-year-old man and the teenage boy were standing when an unknown offender approached and opened fire. 16-year-old boy shot in drive-by on West Side According to police, the 20-year-old was shot in the hip. His injuries are not considered to be life-threatening. The 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm and abdomen.Both victims were taken to the University of Chicago Hospital.No one is in custody. 20 armed robberies reported across Chicago on Sunday: CPD Anyone with information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.This is a developing story. Check back with WGN News for updates.

Gov. Pritzker, IDHS announce plans to get migrants off the streets, into shelters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

CHICAGO — Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) have announced plans to help get migrants off the streets. According to Pritzker and the IDHS the plans include a brick-and-mortar shelter site that will work in conjunction with the tent site in Brighton Park to help house migrants in the city. “They were coming off buses and they were kind of being processed right into shelters, instead of 'Where would you like to go?'" Pritzker said in a press event on Monday.  Migrant camp in Brighton Park still weeks away, officials say Pritzker described problems with the initial processing of migrants coming to the city, problems he hopes to address with a soon-to-be-adapted shelter site at a former CVS Pharmacy building in the 2600 block of North Pulaski Road in Little Village.The state has also earmarked $30 million to bolster a large intake center and welcome team to provide immediate guidance and support for migrants seeking shelter and services and to...

Skilling: Cloudy, windy start to week for Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

The coldest night of the season is ahead---colder even than Monday morning's 24-deg low which tied for the season's coldest to date.Monday's 28-deg high ranks among the coldest 5% of November 27's of the past 153 years.  In fact, only 7 of the past 153 November 27's have been colder than today's 28----a high temps which comes in 15-deg below normal.By morning, temps will dip to 15-deg at O'Hare with a few colder inland temps dropping as low as 7 or 8-degrees. The last time O'Hare's official city low temp will have been as cold as tonight was nearly 10 months ago---on Feb 4, 2023, when the temp dipped to 11-deg.Little wonder it's this cold. While most of the weekend snow has melted, jet stream steering winds are roaring southward out of the northernmost tundra region of North American and the Canadian archipelago—the islands in the Arctic Ocean.The current chill is eating away at November 2023's once formidable monthly temp surplus.  By the close of today, November 27 will post only ...

ISP received 10K+ 'clear & present danger' reports in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) -- The Illinois State Police (ISP) is recognizing a program the agency strengthened last year, with officials arguing it saved lives. In a release, ISP highlighted the agency's Office of Firearm Safety reviewing more than 10,000 Clear and Present Danger Reports.Law enforcement agencies, school administrators, and medical professionals can file a clear and present danger report to ISP to alert state police of people potentially threatening to hurt someone or themselves. ISP then reviews the report and can revoke a FOID card or application and confiscate any firearms. After the 2022 Highland Park mass shooting, Illinois State Police passed emergency rules to strengthen the reports to include "physical or verbal behavior, such as violent, suicidal, or assaultive threats, actions, or other behavior" as a qualification for the agency to revoke firearm ownership. The Highland Park Police Department issued a Clear and Present Danger report to the mass shooting sus...

New data about the cause of deteriorating symptoms in Alzheimer's disease — and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

For Monday, Nov. 27, WGN’s Dina Bair has new medical information, including: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch New findings about the cause of deteriorating symptoms in Alzheimer's diseaseUniversity of Pittsburgh neurologists say brain inflammation, not amyloid and TAU proteins, leads to irritability, agitation and anxiety in Alzheimer's patients. The finding builds on prior research indicating the role of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's progression and it points to new pathways for developing better therapies to relieve symptoms of the mind-robbing disease. Stem cells may spare diabetics daily injectionsStem cells may be able to spare diabetics daily injections. In what researchers call an innovative treatment, University of British Columbia doctors used stem cells to regulate blood glucose levels without insulin injections. Endocrinologists even went so far as to call it a potential functional cure for Type 1 diabetes. The stem cell treatment, implanted under the skin, he...

Texas high school football regional final playoff pairings, locations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Every high school football team in Texas wants to play in December, but only the elite get the privilege.Lake Travis, Westlake, Dripping Springs, Liberty Hill, Wimberley and Blanco are among those elite teams in their divisions set to play in regional finals Friday and Saturday. In Class 6A playoffs, Austin-area teams have dominated San Antonio-area teams over the past 3 seasons The Cavaliers and Chaparrals face off in a playoff version of the Battle of the Lakes at 2 p.m., Saturday from The Pfield in Pflugerville in 6A Division I. The two District 26 rivals went at it Sept. 22 and the Chaps prevailed in a tight one 20-14.Dripping Springs takes on Cibolo Steele at 7 p.m., Saturday in the Alamodome in 6A Division II and Liberty Hill heads to Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos to play San Antonio Pieper at 7 p.m., Friday in 5A Division II action. In Week 2, the Panthers pummeled Pieper 44-6 and the Warriors haven't lost since then. Texas high school football playoff scor...

Texas fire departments are fighting stigma and pushing to provide firefighters mental health help

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:55 GMT

For 24/7 mental health support in English or Spanish, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free help line at 800-662-4357. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.(Texas Tribune) — For more than a decade, Sam Buser watched the lights of fire trucks bounce off the city streets of Houston, heard the roars of burning blazes and stood before the caskets of too many firefighters.He never held a hose or kicked in a door, but, as senior psychologist for the Houston Fire Department, he spent many sleepless nights at fire stations.His job was to convince those who run toward the fire that it's okay to help themselves. But for much of his career, he was something of a rarity in Texas. Even as resources have been poured into law enforcement agencies for decades to solve well-publicized mental health issues, the same can’t be said for fire departments.The reasons are simple: There isn’t enoug...