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California condors confront bird flu in flight from extinction

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California condor is facing the deadliest strain of avian influenza in U.S. history, and the outbreak could jeopardize the iconic vulture with its 10-foot (3.05-meter) wingspan decades after conservationists saved the species from extinction. But nine newly hatched chicks, covered in downy white feathers, give condor-keepers at the Los Angeles Zoo hope that the endangered population of North America’s largest soaring land birds will once again thrive after 40 years of aggressive efforts.With fewer than 350 condors in the wild — in flocks that span from the Pacific Northwest to Baja California, Mexico — the historic outbreak means ongoing breeding-in-captivity and re-wilding programs like the LA Zoo’s remain essential.Over the past year and a half, millions of birds across the U.S. have died from avian flu, including more than 430 bald eagles and some 58 million turkeys and commercial chickens that were euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease. Bir...

GOP boycott in Oregon threatens abortion, transgender bills and protesters’ own political careers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A boycott by Republican state senators in Oregon threatens to derail dozens of bills, including on gun control and abortion rights, as a deadline looms that could also upend the protesters’ political futures. Democrats control the Statehouse in Oregon, but under the rules still need a certain number of Republicans to be present in the chambers to pass legislation.Republican and Democratic leaders in the Oregon Legislature met behind closed door for a second day Thursday to try to bridge the divide as the boycott entered its ninth straight day, with partisan bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun control on the line. Lawmakers with 10 unexcused absences are barred from reelection under a constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly last November by voters weary of repeated walkouts. Several statehouses around the nation, including in Montana and Tennessee, have been ideological battlegrounds. Oregon — having pioneered marijuana decriminalization, ...

Man who fatally choked another NYC subway rider to surrender on manslaughter charge

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who kept a chokehold around the neck of an agitated fellow passenger on a New York City subway, leading to the other rider’s death, is expected to turn himself in to authorities Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.Manhattan prosecutors announced Thursday they would bring the criminal charge against Daniel Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, in the May 1 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.Neely’s death, captured on video by a freelance journalist, has raised an uproar over many issues, including how those with mental illness are treated by the transit system and the city, as well as crime and vigilantism. Penny’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment after the prosecutors made their announcement. They have previously said Penny acted in self-defense.According to an onlooker, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboard the train, but had not gotten physical with anyo...

Pandemic-related asylum restrictions known as Title 42 expire, straining US immigration system

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Pandemic-related asylum restrictions that expelled migrants millions of times were lifted early Friday, as people raced to enter the United States before new rules announced by President Joe Biden’s administration set in.Meanwhile, the administration was dealt a potentially serious legal setback when a federal judge temporarily blocked its attempt to release migrants more quickly when Border Patrol holding stations are full.Migrants, including children, in northern Mexico paced along a U.S. border strung with razor wire and bolstered by troops, unsure of where to go or what to do next. Others settled into shelters, determined to secure an asylum appointment that can take months to schedule online.The expiring rules, known as Title 42, have been in place since March 2020. They allow border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.U.S. authorities have unveiling strict new measures, whic...

California governor likely to announce bigger budget deficit than the $22.5B announced in January

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday is expected to announce an even bigger budget deficit than the $22.5 billion hole that he confronted in January, reflecting an economy burdened by a sagging stock market and disrupted by a series of powerful winter storms that delayed billions of dollars in tax payments.California is one of the only states to have a shortfall this year, mostly because its progressive tax code relies on wealthy taxpayers whose income is closely tied to the performance of the stock market. The deficit is small compared to the cash crunch that the state faced during the last recession. But the challenge for Newsom will be persuading lawmakers to spending cuts who are not accustomed to enacting them.Since taking office in 2019, Newsom’s biggest budget fights with the Democratic-controlled state Legislature is how to spend California’s record-breaking surpluses. Agreeing on what to cut could be much more difficult.Newsom’s plan in Ja...

Nevada considers $190 million in annual tax credits to bring Sony, film industry to Las Vegas

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A bipartisan group of Nevada lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would give massive tax credits aimed at bringing film production to southern Nevada, including a $1 billion Sony expansion.It’s the latest attempt at diversifying southern Nevada’s gaming and tourism-reliant economy, which was hit hard by the pandemic.The $190 million annually in tax credits over two film sites would be the largest proposed tax incentive package in recent state history, even after its deals with Tesla and Redwood Materials totaled hundreds of millions of dollars each. But unlike those deals, which used direct tax abatements, these tax credits would only be awarded upon completion of the films at studios built by private developers.The legislation would involve the state entering an agreement with private developers who would pay for two film production sites — one on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and another in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. “It crea...

Youth climate lawsuit attorneys say Montana tried to scuttle trial by dropping energy policy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Attorneys for young people suing Montana over damages caused by climate change said officials repealed the state’s energy policy in a last-minute bid to avoid a trial sought by the plaintiffs to highlight the dangers of fossil fuels.The two sides are due in court Friday for arguments before state District Judge Kathy Seeley. A two-week trial is scheduled to begin June 12.The case was brought in 2020 by attorneys for the environmental group Our Children’s Trust, which since 2010 has filed climate lawsuits in every state on behalf of youth plaintiffs. Many of the cases — including a previous one in Montana — have been dismissed. None have yet reached trial. The still-pending Montana lawsuit sought in part to repeal a state policy promoting coal, gas and oil development. Scientists say burning those fuels is largely driving climate change by releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide.But after the disputed energy policy was repealed in March by the state Legisla...

Tiny bats provide ‘glimmer of hope’ against a fungus that threatened entire species

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

DORSET, Vt. (AP) — Deep in a cool, damp cave in Vermont, tens of thousands of furry, chocolate brown creatures stir. The little brown bats, survivors of a deadly fungus that decimated their population, went into hibernation last fall. Now in early May, they’re waking, detaching from their rock wall roosts and making their first tentative flights in search of the moths, beetles and flying aquatic insects they devour.It’s here, in deep passages that creep into a Vermont mountain, where scientists found one of the first North American outbreaks of the fungus that causes white nose syndrome. Bat bones litter the cave floor like dry lawn-mower cuttings. Look closer and you’ll find tiny skulls. And the bats are still dying.White nose syndrome is caused by an invasive fungus first found in an upstate New York cave in 2006, a short bat flight from the Dorset, Vermont, colony. The fungus wakes bats from hibernation, sending them into the frigid, winter air in search of food...

Federal government’s $1 billion effort to recruit next generation of doctors at risk

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) — Thousands of women living in rural, eastern Maryland have few options when they’re looking for someone to deliver their babies. The local hospital doesn’t have an obstetrics doctor on staff so most women in this region, flanked by sprawling farm fields and antique stores, turn to the Chesapeake Health Care clinic.Five of the 10 obstetricians and midwives at the clinic are there because of the National Health Service Corps, which promises to pay off $50,000 in medical school debt for every two years that a doctor serves working in rural, urban or poor areas. “OB is frightfully difficult to recruit, and I’m not real sure exactly why,” said the clinic’s chief medical officer Dr. Lee Jennings. “We’re isolated, we’re in an area where we’re the only OB group in the entire area.”Over the last three years, millions of taxpayer dollars were pumped into the National Health Service Corps to hire thousands more doctors and nurses willing to serve the coun...

US, Spain collaboration on migration looms large as Biden, Sánchez hold talks at White House

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:57:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are set to hold talks Friday as their countries are collaborating along with Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can go to apply for protection.The two leaders are also expected to discuss Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other issues. But efforts by the U.S. and Spain to cooperate on asylum processing will loom large over the White House talks as the Biden administration rolls out new immigration measures now that COVID-19 immigration restrictions have ended. The changes could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal crossings while opening up legal pathways meant to incentivize migrants to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous and often deadly journey to the border. Those caught i...