Trump just qualified for the first Republican debate. But will he show up?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Trump just qualified for the first Republican debate. But will he show up? Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott have all met the Republican National Committee’s polling and fundraising thresholds to earn invitations to the first primary debate next month, according to POLITICO’s tracking of the qualification process.Whether they all will show up is another question.Trump, in particular, has indicated he is not inclined to step foot on the stage, publicly waffling on whether he’ll make the trip to Milwaukee at the end of next month.“Ronald Reagan didn’t do it, and a lot of other people didn’t do it. When you have a big lead, you don’t do it,” the former president said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” last weekend.It is a melodrama that could carry on for weeks: Candidates have until 48 hours before the Aug. 23 debate to indicate if they’ll participate.Trump’s potential lack of participation could completely redefine the first debate. If Trump shows, it’s the first real opportunity fo...

Officials identify Dover-Sherborn Regional High student as victim killed in Sesuit Harbor boat crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Officials identify Dover-Sherborn Regional High student as victim killed in Sesuit Harbor boat crash School officials have identified the 17-year-old girl killed in a boating crash in Dennis Friday night as a Dover-Sherborn Regional High student.In a letter to the Dover-Sherborn Public School community, Superintendent Beth McCoy informed students, families and staff that Sadie Mauro, a rising senior, had been killed in a boating accident.Mauro and several other occupants were aboard a ship when it crashed into a jetty in Sesuit Harbor late on Friday, July 21. The teenager was unaccounted for after the crash, which left five people injured, including another teen who was hospitalized for a head laceration.Massachusetts State Police later said a body was recovered from the water around 11:30 p.m. after a search and rescue operation was conducted by Cold Storage Beach.“The Dover-Sherborn community is strong and is known for its strength and resiliency in the face of unimaginable tragedy,” McCoy said. “We will continue to support each other in the days and weeks ahead...

Pence says he’s ‘not yet convinced’ Trump’s actions on January 6 were criminal

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Pence says he’s ‘not yet convinced’ Trump’s actions on January 6 were criminal (CNN) — Former Vice President Mike Pence said he’s “not yet convinced” that Donald Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, were criminal, as the former president faces a potential indictment over his actions that day.“I really do hope it doesn’t come to that,” Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”“In one town hall after another, across New Hampshire, I heard a deep concern … about the unequal treatment of the law, and I think one more indictment against the former president will only contribute to that sense among the American people,” Pence said. “I would rather that these issues and the judgment about his conduct on January 6 be left to the American people in the upcoming primaries, and I’ll leave it at that.”Pence, who bucked pressure from Trump when he certified the results of the 2020 election, said Trump’s actions on January 6 were reckless but added he believed history would hold Trump ac...

Next year’s Olympics are pushing Paris to confront crack cocaine use on city streets

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Next year’s Olympics are pushing Paris to confront crack cocaine use on city streets PARIS (AP) — Neighborhoods in northeast Paris have struggled for years with the scourge of crack cocaine and its use in public. The Summer Olympics, kicking off a year from Wednesday, are offering an impetus to tackle the problem.Yet despite a surge in arrests and new promises of tougher security around the 2024 Paris Games, some residents question whether the newfound focus is just pushing users elsewhere instead of treating medical and mental health problems, a lack of housing and jobs and other deeper ills at the root of the crack crisis.Residents in the 18th and 19th arrondissements, or districts, of the French capital have long complained about the open-air crack use in their neighborhoods that stands in sharp contrast to the postcard-perfect tourist areas of Paris farther south.Small groups of people could be seen using illicit drugs on Sunday at the Porte de la Chapelle metro station and a nearby tram stop located across the street from a new multi-purpose aren...

Police narrow search for infant lost in flash flood, after 2-year-old sister’s body found

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Police narrow search for infant lost in flash flood, after 2-year-old sister’s body found WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — Search teams in Pennsylvania were focusing on one underwater area Sunday as they try to find a 9-month-old boy swept away in a flash flood, hours after authorities confirmed that the body of his 2-year-old sister was recovered from the Delaware River.Upper Makefield Township police said in a Facebook post Sunday that although 2-year-old Matilda Sheils had been “brought home to her loving family” after her body was recovered Friday, officials are “devastated that we have not yet been able to reunite Conrad with his sister and family.”Hundreds of people including search and rescue teams, marine units and police and fire personnel have scoured the area with the aid of “K-9s, sonar, drones, boats, divers, heavy equipment, GPS mapping and air units,” police said, adding that they were now at the point that “our search will be dependent upon the conditions of the river.”Authorities have centered their efforts on an area near where the cree...

Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro fades from the spotlight

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro fades from the spotlight RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is fading from the spotlight, showing the courts’ power over the electoral system and the political shortcomings of the increasingly powerless former leader.Brazil’s top electoral court ruled last month that Bolsonaro is ineligible to run for any political office until 2030 for abusing his power and casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system. Bolsonaro was once called the “Trump of the Tropics” after emerging as a crusading outsider promising to shake up the system and pursuing an aggressive brand of identity politics including conservative values. Trump, who also cast doubt on the U.S. electoral system and faces legal trouble, remains the front-runner for the Republican Party’s nomination. A clear demonstration of Bolsonaro’s waning power was a tax reform vote in Congress’ lower house this month. A proposal supported by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government to ...

‘Barbie,’ in 1st, and ‘Oppenheimer,’ in 2nd, fuel historic box office bonanza

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

‘Barbie,’ in 1st, and ‘Oppenheimer,’ in 2nd, fuel historic box office bonanza “ Barbenheimer ” didn’t just work – it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie ” and Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ” brought moviegoers back to the theaters in record numbers this weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.It’s also the first time that one movie opened to more than $1...

Protesters in the Thai capital calls on senators to approve vote winners’ choice for prime minister

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Protesters in the Thai capital calls on senators to approve vote winners’ choice for prime minister BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday in the Thai capital of Bangkok to demand that conservative senators stop blocking the naming of a prime minister belonging to a winning coalition formed from May’s general election, a stance that risks a potentially destabilizing political deadlock.Protesters braved heavy rain to show their anger and frustration toward the members of the Senate, who were appointed by the military and pride themselves as defenders of traditional royalist values, which they believe are under threat. The surprise election winner, the Move Forward Party, failed in two efforts to have its leader Pita Limjaroenrat confirmed as the next prime minister, largely because he failed to woo enough votes from the senators, who are disturbed by the party’s reformist policy platform. As many as 1,000 demonstrators took to Bangkok’s busy Asok intersection with umbrellas and raincoats. many shouting “Senators, get out!” Speakers at the peaceful rally also called for p...

Security guard killed, suspect dead in Portland shooting

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Security guard killed, suspect dead in Portland shooting PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) - Gunfire erupted inside Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Northwest Portland Saturday morning, leaving one security guard dead in the aftermath. After an hours-long search for the shooter, the suspect died in an officer-involved shooting in Gresham.The incident began around 11 a.m. when shots were fired on the 5th floor of the Irving Center, near the birthing unit at the hospital, PPB Sgt. Kevin Allen said. Though they did not have any information it was an active shooter event, officers responded as if it was, he said.The suspect -- who has not been identified -- fled the hospital, which led to "every available officer" working to locate the shooter.Initially, it was thought the shooter fled to the Fred Meyer store near Providence Park. But after a lengthy search police were "confident there is no threat at that store," Allen said around 2 p.m.The suspect in a fatal shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital died in an officer-involved shooting at NE 181st an...

Woman gored by Yellowstone bison says 'yes' to hospital proposal hours later

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:16:28 GMT

Woman gored by Yellowstone bison says 'yes' to hospital proposal hours later PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona woman who suffered fractured vertebrae and collapsed lungs after being gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park has said “yes” to her boyfriend's hospital proposal.Chris Whitehill said he planned to propose to Amber Harris during their vacation in the park this week, but after spending just one night there, an encounter with a bison upended those plans.The couple from the Phoenix area had walked to a lodge for some coffee Monday and decided to walk through a field to Yellowstone Lake in Wyoming, Harris posted on Facebook the next day. Woman gored by bison at Yellowstone National Park suffers ‘significant injuries’ They waited for some people and about 20 elk to leave the area before continuing. They also noticed two bison. They watched one “drop and roll in the dirt, like a dog would,” she wrote. “He got up on his feet and started walking, then running toward us.”The bison “struck her head-on and she was airborne,” Whitehill told KPNX-...