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Montgomery Co. Council bans gas-powered leaf blowers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

The Montgomery County Council passed a bill that would ban the use and sale of gas-powered leaf blowers in the Maryland county Tuesday.It comes after the council were prepared to vote on the proposal in March, but it had been tabled after there were some lingering questions about the bill.The council said that the ban on selling gas-powered leaf blowers will go into effect on July 1, 2024, while the ban of using those leaf blowers will start on July 1, 2025.“Montgomery County is moving toward electric leaf blowers because it is an important step to address environmental, noise and health concerns in our community,” Council President Evan Glass said in a statement, adding that the legislation “is one example of the many steps we are taking to help combat climate change.”The bill will allow for the development of a grant program to negate the cost of replacing gas-powered leaf blowers with electric leaf blowers.“This legislation is a good step forward tow...

Ohio wants to resume enforcing its abortion law. Justices are weighing the legal arguments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Supreme Court justices vigorously questioned the state’s lawyer Wednesday about a legal strategy that Ohio is attempting in hopes of resuming enforcement of a ban on abortion except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy.Before Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers even finished the first sentence of his argument, justices began peppering him with technical questions that suggested they may be reticent to step in and lift a county judge’s order that has been blocking the law since last October. The state is also challenging whether Preterm Cleveland and other Ohio clinics have the necessary legal standing to sue.Flowers argued that the state has the right to appeal Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins’ order if it can show it’s suffering “irreparable harm” while the law is on hold. Flowers said each abortion that takes place that would have been prevented under Ohio’s 2019 ban constitutes such harm.The law, signed by R...

Rory McIlroy once called the Ryder Cup an exhibition. He knows better now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Rory McIlroy was willing to read his words about the Ryder Cup before happily eating them.He qualified for his first team in 2010, when he was a 21-year-old known as “Boy Wonder” with curly locks that spilled out from under his cap and already painted as Europe’s rising star. He referred to the Ryder Cup as an exhibition, nothing for him to get excited about.McIlroy sat down to read comments from 2009 for a post on social media, and he couldn’t get through it without laughing, mainly at himself.“It’s not that important an event for me. It’s an exhibition at the end of the day,” McIlroy said, reading from the script. “Obviously, I’ll try my best for the team. But I’m not going to go running around and fist-pumping.”And then he added after he stopped laughing, “Who said that?”It didn’t take long for him to realize the Ryder Cup meant so much more — a pivotal halve he earned against Stewart Cink in Wales ...

Prosecutors say cheek swab from Gilgo Beach murder suspect adds to evidence of guilt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — DNA from Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect Rex Heuermann’s cheek swab matches the DNA that authorities had previously collected from a pizza crust and used to link Heuermann to one of the victims, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.Heurmann, 60, was arrested July 13 on murder charges in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, three of the women whose bodies were found along a remote beach highway on Long island, and has been named as the the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman.He pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail at Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead.At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said they had analyzed DNA from a pizza crust that Heuermann had discarded in a Manhattan trash can and matched it to DNA from hairs found on Waterman’s body. Prosecutors then got permission from the court to collect DNA from a cheek swab of Heuermann as further proof of his link to Waterman’s killing.“The bu...

Judge considering if Colorado supermarket shooting suspect is competent for trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Forced medication has significantly improved the mental condition of a man accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021, a psychologist testified Wednesday as a judge considers if the suspect is competent to stand trial.Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 24, was found mentally competent by experts at the state mental hospital in August, but his defense attorney Kathryn Herold asked for the determination to be debated in court.Alissa’s mental condition improved significantly this spring after he was forced under a court order to take medication to treat his schizophrenia, said psychologist Julie Gallagher, who testified for the prosecution after reviewing Alissa’s case. “By allowing forced medications, involuntary medication, he was able to take a medication they hadn’t been able to try before and that really made a difference,” Gallagher said.Alissa entered court in a striped red and white jumpsuit and sat fidgeting next to his defense attorne...

Boulder PD investigating death and a suspicious device

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Boulder Police Department is evacuating units near the 4500 block of 13th Street in Boulder due to a death investigation and a "suspicious device."On Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 11:38 a.m., Boulder police tweeted about the evacuation. Explosive detection investigators are on the scene. Buyer, beware: Police warn of card-tapping scam Boulder PD asks the community to avoid the 4500 block of 13th Street for the time being.Boulder police investigate a death and suspicious device at an apartment building on Sept. 27, 2023. (Vicente Arenas/KDVR)Boulder police investigate a death and suspicious device at an apartment building on Sept. 27, 2023. (KDVR)Boulder police investigate a death and suspicious device at an apartment building on Sept. 27, 2023. (KDVR)Boulder police investigate a death and suspicious device at an apartment building on Sept. 27, 2023. (KDVR)This is breaking news. FOX31 will update this post when more information is released.

Deputies arrest Colorado's most wanted sex offender fugitive

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Bureau of Investigations most wanted sex offender fugitive was taken into custody on Sept. 25.According to CBI, 57-year-old David Mack was the most wanted fugitive on the Top 100 Most Wanted Sex Offender Fugitive List in the state of Colorado.With the assistance of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, CBI tracked down Mack's location and arrested him. Body found near Sanderson Gulch being investigated as a homicide According to CBI, Mack had previously been convicted of attempted sexual assault on a child. He was wanted by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office for failing to register as a sex offender. If you have a tip about a sex offender on the most wanted list, you can call the CBI Fugitive Unit's tipline at 303-239-5732. You can also call the crime stoppers tipline at 800-222-8477.

Police searching for SUV in deadly crash outside of hospital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a Medina Alert Wednesday for the vehicle in a crash outside of Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora that killed a 42-year-old woman.The vehicle was described as a black 2016 Ford Explorer with Colorado license plate BWWG03. It is missing the driver's side headlight. Deadly weekend for pedestrians as Colorado deaths reach all-time high According to CBI, around 3:42 a.m. Saturday, the Explorer was eastbound on East Colfax Avenue between Ursula Street and North Uvalda Street when the driver hit a pedestrian.The person behind the wheel drove away, and the woman was declared dead at the scene.Anyone who sees the vehicle was urged to call 911 or the Aurora Police Department at 303-739-6000.

Poland will bid to host 2036 Olympics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

Poland wants to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2036, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday. “I would like to announce, after consultations with the Polish Olympic Committee, with the minister of sport, and with the government, that our ambition and intention is to start efforts to organize the Summer Olympic Games in 2036,” Duda said, according to local news reports.Poland — which has never hosted the Summer or Winter Olympics — will compete against bids from, so far, Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey.“I can promise that we will do everything to organize these games in Poland,” the president of the Polish Olympic Committee, Radosław Piesiewicz, said Wednesday in response to Duda’s announcement. While hosting the Olympics brings prestige to cities that win the right to stage the event, some economists have argued that ultimately it’s a bad financial deal. Next year’s Summer Olympics will be held in Paris, followed by Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane,...

US defense chief passes the baton at a pivotal moment for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:31 GMT

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley is handing the reins over to his replacement on Friday. It couldn’t come at a more precarious time, as the West show signs of running out of weapons — and out of patience — with Ukraine.As the top military adviser to the president, Milley has weighed in on every major decision in the Ukraine conflict, from what weapons to send Kyiv to how to best train its forces. He has a longstanding relationship with Ukrainian Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as other chiefs of defense around the world. He and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a former four-star general, have led the charge in rallying the West to support Ukraine with modern arms and equipment.But the war is far from over, and Milley is leaving his successor, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, an array of challenges. As Ukrainian forces push for a breakthrough before winter sets in, there is a growing sense in Washington and Europe that the West may be weary of the...