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The power dynamic in labor has shifted and pickets are seemingly everywhere. But for how long?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — From auto production lines to Hollywood, the power of labor unions is back in the national spotlight.But despite historic strikes and record contract negotiations this year, there’s a lot stacked against labor organizers today. Union membership rates have been falling for decades due to changes in the U.S. economy, employer opposition, growing political partisanship and legal challenges.“Even though we’re seeing stronger support for unions, (with) the highest popularity of union favorability in polls since at least 1960s, translating the worker desire for representation into actual representation is really hard under our current system,” Alexander Colvin, dean of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press.WHAT’S DRIVING UNION ACTIVITY NOW?At least 457,000 workers have participated in 315 strikes in the U.S. just this year, according to Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. candidate and the project director of Cornell...

Russian authorities fine a human rights advocate for criticizing the war in Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Human rights advocate Oleg Orlov was fined about $1,500 on Wednesday for criticizing the war in Ukraine, the latest step in a relentless crackdown on activists, independent journalists and opposition figures.Orlov, co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, was convicted of publicly “discrediting” the Russian military after a Facebook post in which he denounced the invasion of Ukraine. A law adopted shortly after the Kremlin sent troops across the border made it a criminal offense if committed repeatedly within a year; Orlov has been fined twice for antiwar protests before facing criminal charges.A Moscow court began hearing the case in March, and Orlov faced up to five years in prison if convicted. In closing arguments Wednesday, however, the prosecution asked the court to impose a fine of 250,000 rubles (about $2,500). “Thank God!” gasped Orlov’s wife when she heard that in court, according to the Russian news outlet Med...

House Republicans are trying to nominate a new speaker after ousting McCarthy but it could be a wait

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stalemated over a new House speaker, the Republican majority is meeting behind closed doors Wednesday to try to choose a new leader, but lawmakers warn it could take hours, if not days, to unite behind a nominee after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.The two leading contenders, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, appear to be splitting the vote among their Republican colleagues. McCarthy, who had openly positioned himself to reclaim the job he just lost, told fellow GOP lawmakers not to nominate him this time. “I don’t know how the hell you get to 218,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, referring to the majority vote typically needed in the 435-member House to become speaker. “It could be a long week.”It’s an extraordinary moment of political chaos that has brought the House to a standstill at a time of uncertainty at home and crisis abroad, just 10 months after Republicans swept to power. Aspiring t...

Lidia dissipates after killing 1, injuring 2 near Mexico resort, Atlantic sees Tropical Storm Sean

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lidia dissipated Wednesday after hitting land as a Category 4 hurricane near the resort of Puerta Vallarta, where one person was killed by a falling tree and two others injured The hurricane knocked over trees and blew roofs off houses with winds as high as 140 mph (220 kph) before moving inland. Laura Velázquez, the head of Mexico’s civil defense system, said one person died on the northern outskirts of Puerto Vallarta after being hit by a falling tree, and two others were injured elsewhere in the area.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday that Lidia’s winds were down to 35 mph as it dissipated about 145 miles (235 kilometers) north-northeast of the city of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and the capital of the western state of Jalisco.Lidia made landfall Tuesday on Cabo Corrientes, a sparsely populated peninsula, and then moved inland south of Puerto Vallarta with winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center. The h...

Wisconsin GOP leader reveals names of former justices he asked to look at impeachment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly speaker revealed the names of the three former state Supreme Court justices he asked to investigate possible impeachment of a sitting justice for the first time in a court filing made public Wednesday.Assembly Speaker Robin Vos floated impeaching liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she did not recuse from a redistricting lawsuit seeking to toss GOP-drawn legislative district boundary maps. On Friday, she declined to recuse herself, and the court voted 4-3 along partisan lines to hear the redistricting challenge. Vos asked three former justices to review the possibility of impeachment, but he refused to name them. David Prosser told The Associated Press that he was on the panel, but other justices either said they weren’t on it or did not comment. In a court filing, Vos identified the other two as former Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and former Justice Jon Wilcox. All three of those picked by Vos are conservatives...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts after the first of two big updates on inflation this week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday as yields are mixed in the bond market, which has been Wall Street’s main driver recently.The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.Wall Street has been mostly struggling since the summer as longer-term yields shoot higher in the bond market, weighing on prices for all kinds of investments. Some relief has come this week, and yields have regressed after officials at the Federal Reserve suggested they may be done raising their main overnight interest rate.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.59% from 4.66% late Tuesday and from more than 4.80% last week, when it reached its highest level since 2007. Besides hurting prices for investments, high yields have jacked up rates for mortgages and other loans, which saps momentum from the economy.But the two-year Treasury yield, which moves...

Conservationists say Cyprus police are lax in stopping gangs that poach songbirds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A conservation group in Cyprus said Wednesday that police have been lax in cracking down on remaining criminal gangs who illegally trap songbirds to supply restaurants, although the poaching overall has declined.Tassos Shialis, spokesman for conservation group BirdLife Cyprus, said that although the war on songbird poaching generally is being won, criminal gangs continue to make “serious money by trapping on an industrial scale” and are doing so “with impunity.”According to the group’s 2022 report, trapping last year dropped by as much as a half in the survey area, down to about 345,000 birds killed. But Shialis told The Associated Press that there are still up to 15 major trapping sites that use mist nets — fine mesh suspended between two poles — to catch the birds.Restaurant patrons consider the birds a delicacy. A dozen of the birds go for as much as 150 euros ($159), Shialis said.Fines of 2000 euros ( $2120 ) for using mist nets have deterred many tr...

Source: Former NFL player Sergio Brown in custody related to mother's death

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Former NFL player and Maywood native Sergio Brown is in custody in connection to his mother's homicide last month, according to a source.Myrtle Simmons-Brown, 73, was discovered dead in a creek behind her home, in Maywood's 1000 block of Nichols Lane on Sept. 16.Last month, Maywood police have stopped short of naming her son Sergio Brown as a person of interest, but stated they’d like to talk to him.A photo of Myrtle Simmons-Brown (Courtesy: Christian A. Conway)Brown is a former safety for Notre Dame who played seven seasons in the NFL.He has been in U.S. custody since Monday in San Diego and was originally arrested in Mexico, according to a source.A few days after Simmons-Brown’s body was found, videos of Brown surfaced on social media, where he appeared to be outside of the United States.In one of the videos, Brown claimed to have been kidnapped twice, while in another he appeared to be laughing, while surrounded by messages from the movie "Finding Nemo." Previous: F...

LIVE: Mayor Johnson delivers first budget address

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson will deliver his first budget address Wednesday. It is expected to cover everything from filling the more than nearly $540 million budget shortfall to the growing cost of the migrant crisis.The mayor has been warning for weeks this was going to be a challenging budget.Johnson came into office with progressive goals — opening mental health clinics and pouring millions into programs for the homeless, and his treatment not trauma plan.Johnson wants to do this without raising property taxes and with some federal relief dollars ending.While campaigning for mayor, Johnson proposed a number of revenue generating ideas, most included fees and taxes aimed at the wealthy.The Chicago Sun-Times reports Johnson recently hinted the elimination of 1,700 police vacancies. The nearly $540 million gap for next year, according to the Chicago Tribune report, is attributed to revenues dropping and expenditures growing by about 9% over this year's budget.The migrant crisis...

2 hospitalized following fire at North Side senior living facility

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:17:28 GMT

CHICAGO — Two people have been hospitalized at a North Side senior living facility following a fire and elevated CO levels.The Chicago Fire Department responded just after 8 a.m. to the Swartzberg House, located in the 3100 block of West Touhy, on the report of a fire in one unit on the sixth floor.One resident was transported in good condition and another was transported initially in serious condition. However, CFD later said they are going to be fine and elevated CO levels played a factor.A firefighter suffered a minor nose injury.CFD said residents from floors one to five can return to their apartments