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Biden to launch ’24 bid, betting record will top age worries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set on Tuesday to formally announce his plans to run for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” he began when he was sworn into office and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America’s oldest president for another four years.Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals. But he’s still set to face a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.The announcement will come on the four-year anniversary of when Biden declared for the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump — a goal that has remained elusive. While the question of seeking reelection ha...

Stock markets today: Asia mixed ahead of US earnings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street edged higher as investors awaited U.S. earnings reports and an update on economic growth.Shanghai and Hong Kong declined while Tokyo advanced. Oil prices were little-changed.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.1% on Monday after Coca-Cola Co. announced better quarterly profits than expected. Some 170 of the biggest U.S. companies are due to report earnings this week.Also this week, U.S. government data are expected to show economic growth is slowing following repeated interest rate hikes to cool stubbornly high inflation.If the economy cools, tech stocks will face a “difficult environment” maintaining high prices that have helped to buoy the market, said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report. He said stocks also face “big risks” from corporate earnings and a battle in Washington over raising the government’s debt limit.The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6% to 3,256.82 while the Nikkei 225 i...

Hutchinson’s launch highlights Arkansas city of Bentonville

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — When Asa Hutchinson launches his bid for president this week, he’ll do so at a familiar location: the downtown square in the northwest Arkansas city where he was born, practiced law and first ran for office.But Bentonville today is vastly different from the sleepy small town of fewer than 9,000 people where he got his start handling real estate cases and writing wills. Fueled by retail giant Walmart, the nearly 57,000-person city is now the state’s fastest growing. High-end restaurants, art galleries and shops crowd the downtown, while mountain bikers are a regular presence. The sounds of construction and the sight of cranes are also a regular part of life in the city. It’s a far cry from a town that didn’t even have an FM radio station until Hutchinson launched one in the late 1970s.“To me, today, Bentonville represents the success of entrepreneurship and hard work and independent thinking,” Hutchinson told The Associated Press.Hutch...

Tokyo company aims to be 1st business to put lander on moon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

A Japanese company is about to attempt what no other private business has done: land on the moon.Tokyo’s ispace company put its own spacecraft into orbit around the moon a month ago. On Tuesday, flight controllers will direct the craft, named Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit, to descend from 60 miles (100 kilometers) high and land. The 7-foot lander is carrying a mini lunar rover for the United Arab Emirates and a toylike robot from Japan designed to roll around in the moon dust.Hakuto took a long, roundabout route to the moon following its December liftoff, beaming back photos of Earth along the way. Only three governments have successfully landed on the moon: Russia, the United States and China. An Israeli nonprofit tried to land on the moon in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all c...

Little Village residents organize citizens patrol to help protect street vendors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

CHICAGO — After a string of armed robberies last November, a group of people in Little Village decided they needed to do something.Community members decided to organize groups of people, in most cases in sizes of 5-7 people, into a citizen patrol who get up in the early hours of the morning to help protect street vendors, who they say are some of Little Villages most vulnerable workers.WGN's Erik Runge went for a ride along with the group one chilly March morning.The driver on that particular morning was Mercedes Alverez, President of Little Village Park. Alverez started making rounds around 3:30 a.m. near 26th Street and Central Park Avenue, checking in with businesses and knocking on doors to make sure everything is going okay. On anniversary of Geraldo’s Al Capone vault broadcast, WGN unlocks another mystery safe While she is not a police officer — Alverez has no formal training — she does know the streets of Little Village and the vendors who work them.At one of the stops alon...

Veteran East Palo Alto cop promoted to police chief

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

EAST PALO ALTO – A 23-year veteran of the East Palo Alto Police Department is taking over as top cop.Jeff Liu, the interim police chief, was promoted to police chief on April 14, the city said in a statement. His selection was announced at a City Council meeting on April 18.Liu began his law enforcement career in East Palo Alto as an officer in September 2000. He was promoted to sergeant in January 2009 and commander in March 2015. In January 2021, Liu took over as acting police chief and was later named interim police chief.The city said Liu was picked as police chief following an extensive recruitment and selection process that involved community members, city employees and the council.“With over 20 years of experience working here in the city of East Palo Alto, Jeff has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our residents,” Vice Mayor Antonio Lopez said. “His heart, passion and love for the community are qualities that will ensure East Palo Alto continues to be a shining exampl...

Oakland police detective expected to be charged with perjury, threatening witness in homicide case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

OAKLAND — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for an Oakland police detective and prosecutors are expected to charge him with felonies on Tuesday, according to sources and a media report.As first reported by KTVU, a no-bail warrant has been issued for Phong Tran, a longtime homicide detective, who has been under scrutiny after a murder case against two men was thrown out last month. The warrant is for felony perjury, threatening a witness and at least half a dozen other allegations.A source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed KTVU’s report and said Tran will be charged Tuesday.As previously reported by this news organization, Tran returned from a recent leave of absence last year to resume detective work with the department, where he has investigated hundreds of cases including homicides as recently as February, when he was called to the scene of a fatal shooting and suspected marijuana robbery at an Oakland home, author...

Alex Cobb pitches SF Giants’ first shutout since Madison Bumgarner to beat Cardinals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants didn’t exactly loudly announce their new, full-strength lineup to the rest of the league Monday night. But they belabored the St. Louis Cardinals starter and came up when it counted to back up the best outing they’ve gotten from a starting pitcher this season.Making his Giants debut, Mitch Haniger broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly, before J.D. Davis broke the game open with a three-run blast a batter later, powering the way to a 4-0 win in their first of four games against the Cardinals, behind nine brilliant innings from Alex Cobb.Never needing more than 15 pitches to complete an inning, an efficient and effective Cobb became the first Giants’ starter to throw a complete-game shutout since Madison Bumgarner in 2016 and only their second pitcher since to complete nine innings, period (Carlos Rodón, 2022, at SD). With his second career shutout, Cobb joined the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara and the Yankees...

Bay Area Sudanese community calls for end to violence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

(KRON) -- The Bay Area Sudanese community is coming together after their loved ones have become trapped in the middle of fighting in Sudan.“I still have half of my family over there who is constantly sending us videos, bombings, gunshots and houses being burned,” said Alees Elshiek, a Sudanese woman living in Hayward.Elshiek said half of her family has been able to flee to the east but she doesn't know how long their safety will remain. Refugees from North Sudan are now pouring into South Sudan.“Our organization works with South Sudanese refugees from previous violence with Sudan. So much turmoil. All these countries have their problems, but spill over into each other," said David Watermulder with Helping Hands for South Sudan.Watermulder runs Helping Hands for South Sudan, a Bay Area nonprofit that works with students in South Sudan to pay for school. Elshiek is a part of the Sudanese Association of Northern California. The group held a rally on Saturday in San Franc...

China recogerá muestras de la cara oculta de la Luna en una futura misión espacial

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:16 GMT

BEIJING, China – La futura misión espacial china Chang’e-6 recogerá muestras de la superficie de la cara oculta de la Luna, en lo que será “la primera misión de su tipo en la historia de la humanidad”, explicaron este lunes responsables del programa espacial del país asiático.Las Chang’e 6, 7 y 8 formarán parte de la “cuarta fase” de la exploración lunar del país asiático, apuntó el director del programa de exploración lunar chino, Wu Weiren, citado por la agencia estatal Xinhua.La 7 tendrá como objetivo alunizar en el polo sur de nuestro satélite, donde buscará agua, mientras que la 8 inspeccionará los materiales en dicha región.En conjunto, las tres sondas “formarán el modelo básico de una estación de investigación en la Luna”, que se espera que esté completa “antes de 2028”, aseveró el científico, que agregó que los expertos están “trabajando duro para promover el establecimiento de la Estación Internacional ...