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Justice Sandra Day O’Connor paved a path for women on the Supreme Court

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — One fall day in 2010, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor slipped into the courtroom where she worked for nearly 25 years to take in an “amazing” sight.The first — and for 12 years, the only — woman on the high court saw three women in black robes among the nine justices.Recalling that day, O’Connor said she “saw a woman on the far right end of the bench, one on the far left end and one near the middle. That was pretty amazing.”O’Connor lived to see four women serve at the same time on the Supreme Court. What was once a novelty when she was the first woman to sit on the high court has become almost commonplace. In a sense, O’Connor was witnessing the culmination of her own journey, in which she struggled to get any legal job after graduating from law school in the 1950s, then ended more than 190 years of male exclusivity on the Supreme Court when President Ronald Reagan nominated her in 1981.O’Connor, who left the court in 2006, died Friday in Phoenix...

With the expulsion of Santos and ouster of McCarthy, the House is making unexpected history

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is making history this year in ways that Republicans could hardly have envisioned when the party took control.First, the Republicans voted to oust their speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and on Friday they voted to get rid of one of their own, indicted GOP Rep. George Santos of New York.Never before had a House majority voted to evict its speaker, and not since the Civil War had the chamber voted to expel a member who was charged but not yet convicted of a crime.The result has been a dizzying 11 months in a House majority riven by infighting, chiseling away at the powers of Congress and taking its toll on the actual business of governing. As the year comes to a close, the arc of power for House Republicans is at an inflection point, a new era of performance politics and chaotic governing that shows no signs of easing.“Is it messy? Yeah, sure,” said Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, among the New Yorkers who led the ouster of Santos. “But when you’re actuall...

Police charge director of Miss Nicaragua pageant with running ‘beauty queen coup’ plot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaraguan police said Friday they want to arrest the director of the Miss Nicaragua pageant, accusing her of intentionally rigging contests so that anti-government beauty queens would win the pageants as part of a plot to overthrow the government.The charges against pageant director Karen Celebertti would not be out of place in a vintage James Bond movie with a repressive, closed off government, coup-plotting claims, foreign agents and beauty queens.It all started Nov. 18, when Miss Nicaragua, Nicaragua’s Sheynnis Palacios won the Miss Universe competition. The government of President Daniel Ortega briefly thought it had scored a rare public relations victory, calling her win a moment of “legitimate joy and pride.”But the tone quickly soured the day after the win when it emerged that Palacios had posted photos of herself on Facebook participating in one of the mass anti-government protests in 2018.The protests were violently repressed, and human rights officials ...

Bolivia’s Indigenous women climbers fear for their future as the Andean glaciers melt

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

EL ALTO, Bolivia (AP) — When they first started climbing the Andes peaks, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, it’s the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their ascents.Dressed in colorful, multilayered skirts, a group of 20 Indigenous Bolivian women — known as the Cholita climbers — have been climbing the mountain range for the past eight years, working as tourist guides. But as the glaciers in the South American country retreat as a result of climate change, they worry about the future of their jobs.The Aymara women remember a time when practically every spot on the glaciers was covered in snow, but now there are parts with nothing but rocks.“There used to be a white blanket and now there is only rock,” said Lidia Huayllas, one of the climbers. “The thaw is very noticeable.”Huayllas said she has seen the snow-capped Huayna Potosí mountain, a 6,000-meter (19,600-feet) peak near the Bolivian c...

At U.N. climate talks, world leaders to pledge and plead on second day of leaders’ summit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A critical climate conference that began with world leaders acknowledging an Earth in crisis was set for a second day of leaders’ speeches on Saturday that organizers hope will set the stage for concrete action in coming days.The annual United Nations conference, known as COP28, was dominated Friday by presidents, prime ministers and royals laying out their plans to reduce heat-trapping emissions and urging each other to come together to avert climate catastrophe that seemed to draw closer than ever in 2023.With about 150 of the planet’s top decision-makers in attendance, opening speeches spilled into Saturday where some 60 nations had yet to speak before the major work of the conference, which runs through Dec. 12, begins.Missing from the conference are the heads of the top two polluting nations — Presidents Joe Biden of the U.S. and Xi Jinping of China. Vice President Kamala Harris was set to stand in Saturday for Biden.Harris’ appear...

No. 7 Texas looking for final Big 12 hurrah vs. No. 19 Oklahoma State for title, possible CFP berth

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas won the championship game in the Big 12's inaugural 1996 season and now will try to bid farewell to the conference with a bookend title.On the way out, the seventh-ranked Longhorns (11-1, No. 7 CFP) are the league's last hope for the four-team College Football Playoff. Even with a win over No. 19 Oklahoma State (9-3) in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, SEC-bound Texas would still need a lot of help to make the playoff. Advice from an old friend helped Sarkisian, Texas make it back to Big 12 title game “We’ll talk more about that after the game. We’re in a great position. But I also know we have to take care of business," third-year Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "There is no College Football Playoff talk if we don’t play really good Saturday and try to find a way to win that game.”The last time the Longhorns won the Big 12 was 2009 to make the BCS national championship game, and their only other title was as the league's last national ch...

Nuggets survive Jusuf Nurkic’s big night for 119-111 win over Suns

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

They needed to fend off a second-half surge from the Suns, but the Nuggets held on Friday in Phoenix for a 119-111 win over one of the top contenders in the West.Denver (14-6) shot 57% from the field and only turned the ball over nine times to win its fourth consecutive game. Next is the end of a road back-to-back Saturday at Sacramento.Jokic v. NurkicAs of late, the assists have been piling up for Nikola Jokic. He matched a career-high with 18 in New Orleans two weeks ago, and he has now averaged 12 in his last five games since getting ejected in Detroit. The first half in Phoenix was the clearest example so far this season of Jokic opting to fully be a distributor over a scorer. He had a unique line of six points (four shot attempts), two rebounds and 10 assists at halftime.Things changed in the third quarter. Jokic and former teammate Jusuf Nurkic started to go at it in an old-school, physical post battle at both ends. Jokic attempted nine shots in the quarter, starting 4 for 5 b...

Loved ones search for L.A. County girl missing for months

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

Loved ones are searching for a Los Angeles County girl who has been missing for months. Zoey Lopez, 16, disappeared on July 22. She was last seen leaving her La Puente home, according to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.The girl’s mother, Adella Lopez, said everything seemed normal that day. When Zoey left the house, Adella believed her daughter was just heading out for a short walk. The missing girl, who was 15 at the time of her disappearance, has not been heard from since.Loved ones said Zoey has never gone missing before and her disappearance is, “very unusual behavior for her.”Authorities believe she could be in the San Bernardino, Santa Monica or Riverside areas. Zoey Lopez, 16, a La Puente girl who disappeared on July 22, 2023. (The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)Zoey Lopez, 16, a La Puente girl who disappeared on July 22, 2023. (The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)Zoey Lopez, 16, a La Puente girl who disappeared...

Fire at historic Tustin hangar finally extinguished

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

A fire that destroyed a hangar at the historic Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin has finally been extinguished, nearly a month after it started.The hangar ignited on the morning of Nov. 7, partially destroying the historic aviation landmark and sending toxic material into the air over the span of the following days and weeks.Firefighters were able to contain the blaze that day, but multiple flare-ups in the weeks that followed left many Tustin residents on edge after asbestos, nickel and arsenic were found in debris samples near the site.Those dangerous chemicals led to a local state of emergency declaration, school cancellations and the scrapping of multiple outdoor events in Tustin and the outlying communities.On Friday, the Orange County All-Hazards Incident Management Team declared that the final hotspot at the hangar site has been fully extinguished. Photos: Iconic Tustin blimp hangar destroyed in fire The fire in all its various forms lasted for 24 days and presen...

Pac-12 bowl picks: Washington heads to the CFP, Oregon awaits New Year’s Six bid as everything falls into place

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:26:59 GMT

The final, most anticipated Pac-12 championship game provided fabulous theatre Friday night in Las Vegas as Washington lost a big lead, then rallied in the fourth quarter to edge Oregon 34-31 and clinch a perfect regular season.The rest of the weekend should be relatively free of drama for the conference.We know the Huskies are headed to the College Football Playoff as a 13-0 conference champion with four wins over teams ranked in the CFP top-25 and eight victories over bowl-eligible teams.The only question is whether UW holds its ground as the No. 3 seed when the pairings are announced Sunday morning, or slips to fourth.Best guess: The Huskies are No. 3 and paired against No. 2 Michigan in the Rose Bowl, which hosts a semifinal.Either way, Washington will end the Pac-12’s six-year playoff drought in the conference’s final year of existence.Oregon won’t fall far from its No. 5 position in the CFP rankings. The selection committee typically is loath to punish teams ...