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Ticker: A processing glitch has held up a ‘small percentage’ of bank deposits since Thursday, overseer says; Nearly 1M chickens will be killed on a Minnesota farm because of bird flu

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

A processing glitch in the network that processes electronic transfers between nearly all U.S. bank accounts led to delays in settling deposits, some of which remain stalled, according to the private company that operates the system.The Clearing House Payments Co. said Monday that a technical error on Thursday resulted in some payment information sent to banks with account numbers and customer names masked, preventing them from being processed immediately. TCH, as the company is known, is owned by a group of 22 major banks, including Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase.Many customers have complained about the problem on social media, noting that delayed paycheck deposits have imperiled important automatic payments such as mortgage payments, rent and credit-card bills.Nearly 1M chickens will be killed on a Minnesota farm because of bird fluNearly 1 million chickens on a Minnesota egg farm will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious b...

Robbins: Left’s Hamas lobby holds Biden support hostage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

In the stiff competition to produce the least credible members of Congress,  the Republican Party’s leading entrants are George Santos and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the Democrats’ top contender has to be Rashida Tlaib. The Michigan Congresswoman has worked tirelessly to burnish her reputation for mendacity, doing so on a nearly 24/7 basis since Oct. 7, when several thousand Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli communities and slaughtered 1,400 civilians in their homes and while they were at a music festival, blowing some to pieces and burning others alive.When Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired a rocket from Gaza hoping to murder Israeli civilians and instead hit a Gazan hospital, Tlaib dutifully and angrily repeated Hamas’ falsehood that Israel was to blame, and continued to repeat the false claim even after international intelligence agencies and a battery of independent experts confirmed that what Hamas and Tlaib were claiming was actually a lie. Tlaib doesn’t merely defend Hamas’ “Ki...

Legislature will look at extra shelter funding as migrant crisis nears max

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

The Legislature will consider providing extra funding to help cover the cost of housing thousands of local and immigrant families, according to the Speaker, just as the state’s shelter system is set to reach capacity.During a brief press conference held at the State House Monday afternoon, House Speaker Ron Mariano said that lower chamber lawmakers, on Wednesday, will discuss sending the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities more money to pay for housing the nearly 7,500 families currently living in state-provided shelters.Mariano was not incredibly forthcoming with details regarding the House’s plans, only saying “yes” when asked if the lawmakers would consider some measure impacting the Emergency Assistance shelter system and that the proposal “includes money” but that the amount is “yet to be determined.”Senate President Karen Spilka said the upper chamber is “taking a look at” the problem.“We’ll get the bill from the House, and take it up in short...

Galvin’s Election Day warning and advice: Don’t mail ballots, but do please vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

Tuesday is election day for cities across the commonwealth, and the secretary of state has some words of warning and advice for voters.Secretary of State Bill Galvin held a press conference at the Massachusetts State Library on Monday to warn voters against mailing ballots back, since local elections have different rules than statewide contents.“I am greatly concerned however, that there is some misunderstanding about the return of vote by mail ballots. In the case of municipal elections, the way the statute was passed, there is no grace period, so ballots must be received not later than the close of polls tomorrow,” Galvin said.Along with a number of other provisions, the VOTES Act, signed into law by former Gov. Charlie Baker, allows all voters in Massachusetts to vote by mail with no excuse required. However a large number of voters who elected to receive a mail ballot, Galvin said, are still holding onto them, despite there being different rules.“At this present moment, literall...

Insurer to pay nearly $5M to 3 of the 4 Alaska men whose convictions in a 1997 killing were vacated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

Three of the four Indigenous men who served 18 years in prison for a murder conviction that was ultimately vacated will receive a total of nearly $5 million in a settlement confirmed by the city of Fairbanks on Monday.The convictions of the so-called Fairbanks Four in the 1997 death of Fairbanks teenager John Hartman were vacated in 2015 after a key state witness recanted testimony and following a weeks-long hearing reexamining the case that raised the possibility others had killed Hartman. The men — George Frese, Eugene Vent, Marvin Roberts and Kevin Pease — argued that an agreement that led to their release in which they agreed not to sue was not legally binding because they were coerced. The men also maintained there was a history of discrimination against Alaska Natives by local police. Pease is Native American; Frese, Vent and Roberts are Athabascan Alaska Natives.The legal fight over whether the men could sue the city despite the agreement has gone on for years. In 2021, the U...

Captain found guilty of ‘seaman’s manslaughter’ in boat fire that killed 34 off California coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal jury on Monday found a scuba dive boat captain was criminally negligent in the deaths of 34 people killed in a fire aboard the vessel in 2019, the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history.The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles confirmed Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman’s manslaughter that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters. Boylan was the only person to face criminal charges connected to the fire.He could get 10 years behind bars. The verdict comes more than four years after the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy, which prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and civil lawsuits. The Conception was anchored off the Channel Islands, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day excursion, sinking less than 100...

Sudan’s military conflict is getting closer to South Sudan and Abyei, UN envoy warns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The “unprecedented” conflict between Sudan’s army and rival paramilitary force now in its seventh month is getting closer to South Sudan and the disputed Abyei region, the U.N. special envoy for the Horn of Africa warned Monday.Hanna Serwaa Tetteh pointed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Force’s recent seizures of the airport and oil field in Belila, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of the capital of Sudan’s West Kordofan State.She told the U.N. Security Council that the conflict “is profoundly affecting bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan, with significant humanitarian, security, economic and political consequences that are a matter of deep concern among the South Sudanese political leadership.”Sudan was plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in the capital, Khartoum, and other areas across the East African nation.More than 9,000 people have been killed, a...

ACLU sues South Dakota over its vanity plate restrictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota announced Monday that it is suing South Dakota over a state law that restricts content on vanity plates.The ACLU said in a press release that it filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lyndon Hart, whose application for a plate that said “REZWEED” was initially denied by the South Dakota Motor Vehicle Division for allegedly being “in poor taste.” Hart runs a business called Rez Weed Indeed, which he uses to support the legal selling and use of marijuana on Native American reservations. Hart intended for the personalized license plate to refer to his business and its mission of promoting tribal sovereignty, the news release said. According to the complaint filed Friday, the state Department of Revenue denied Hart’s application in 2022. Under state law, the department has the authority to “refuse to issue any letter combination which carries connotations offensive to good taste and decency.” The department later ...

Chicago police officer wounded, suspect killed in shooting on South Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer was shot and wounded Monday on the city's South Side.The shooting happened just before 12 p.m. in the 7300 block of South Dante Avenue in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood.According to Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling, four officers of the 3rd District Tactical Team made an investigatory stop when the subject ran away. Officers briefly chased them on foot when shots were fired at the officers, Snelling said. Three of the officers returned fire. One officer was shot in the arm and taken to a hospital by fellow officers with non-life-threatening injuries, Snelling said. The person who was shot by officers was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and later died. 11-year-old girl shot while inside home on South Side All of the other officers involved were taken to a hospital for observation, Snelling said.A firearm was recovered at the scene, Snelling said.The officers were in uniform at the time of the stop and ...

Veteran's Voices: Largest Vietnam veterans parade held in Chicago in 1986

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — A small band of Chicago veterans believed it's never too late to welcome home American soldiers from Vietnam.Little did they know, the project would affect thousands of veterans. Purple Heart returned to Illinois veteran’s family In 1986, Navy Pier served a much different purpose than it does today.It was the starting off point for a parade to honor Vietnam veterans and it would become known as the largest parade of its kind in the nation.It was held on June 13, 1986."It was kind of controlled chaos," Harold Beyne, one of the parade's co-organizers, said. "It was amazing we were able to pull it off with very little money. Chicagoland veterans take part in Habitat for Humanity build Beyne and Roger McGill were part of the small group.Inspired by New York's parade the year before, they believed Chicago could do one better. They had the backing of then Chicago Mayor Harold Washington."Without him, no parade," Beyne said. "I mean, he was behind us."Relying solely on invita...